ARSENE CHABANIAN (Sunienc/Erzurum 1864-1949 Paris)
Rare.Selten.Pas Commun acquaforte.aguafuerte.akwaforta.eau-forte.etching.ets.radierung printed in color Masterprint.Gr.in-folio. Dimensions: Image 380x560 mm (T.C.) Plate 430x600 mm Paper 500x700 mm Signed in pencil A Chabanian lower right between T.C. and platemark Watermarked.Arches Paper.Editor Imprint Aout 1908 Edite par Georges Petit, 8 rue de Seze, Paris Aout 1908 recto upper left at T.C. near plate corner Oval Drystamp : Cercle HTH Estampes recto lower left below T.C. at platecorner, with pencil annotation 4 Publishers Annotation Georges Petit.Paris 23.10.1908 in pencil verso cf. illustration and descriptive text in  Online Data Peter Helm Eberbach 2008 Textes d Histoire d Art par Peter Helm. Online and Printed Media 1980-2013 foto peter helm photo  This original work being used as illustration without indicating its source by Ara Hakobyan (Armenian Seascape Painters Part I) Reduced size in sky and foreground (height of our original) Being retouched digitally with colour and other detail in parts. ARSENE CHABANIAN Erzurum 1864-1949 Paris Venezia Meister-Farbradierung .Grand-in-folio.Passermarken.. Signiert. Paris.1908 Auf Arches mit Wasserzeichen. Verlagsimprint Aout 1908. Trockenstempel Cercle Estampes Verso hs. Verleger Annotation Georges Petit. Paris 23/10/1908 cf. Vorlage zur Illustration in Farbe bei Ara Hakobyan Arsene Chabanian. Erevan 2009 Online-Data Peter Helm Eberbach Polygraphicum1Chabanian.jpg Ausbildung am armenischen College Murad-Rafaelyan in Venedig. Dort Zeichenunterricht bei Luigi Querena und Antonio Ermolao Paoletti 1890 in Feodosia (Krim) Begegnung mit Ivan Konstantinovic Ajvasovskij. Ab 1894 in Paris .Student der Academie Julian bei Gustave Moreau, Jean Paul Laurens und Benjamin Constant. Mitbegünder der Societe des Artistes de Marines. Mitglied der ANI. Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur 1904 stellt Chabanian erstmals Farbradierungen aus und ist mit Jean-Francois Raffaelli einer der Reformer der Farbgraphik. cf. SAUR AKL XVIII, p.40 mit aktuellster Sekundärliteratur cf. BENEZIT cf. Exposition Galerie Georges Petit .Paris 1899,1905,1913,1926 cf. Reference Ara Hakobyan, Arsene Chabanian, Poligraph Business publishing house, 144 pages, Erevan 2009, printed in Armenia by Tigran Mets Publishing House Ара Акопян, Арсен Шабанян, типография Полиграф бизнес, 144 ст., Ереван 2009, напечатано в типографии издательства Тигран Метц Arsene Chabanian, artiste peintre de paysages et de marines, graveur a l eau forte.Ne a Erzeroum en 1864. Il recoit sa premiere instruction artistique chez le maitre Paoletti a Venise.Ensuite il se rendit au Caucase, ou il fait la connaissance de Aivazovski, qui lui encourageait a se rendre a Paris pour s y perfectionner.Arsene Chabanian est admis a l atelier du Maitre Gustave Moureau et a l Academie Julian il devient eleve de Jean-Paul Laurens et Benjamin Constant.Mais son vrai maitre est la nature , surtout celle de Bretagne, ou il rapporta plusieurs etudes et nombreux tableaux, qui figurent a divers salons des Artistes francais, Societe Nationale des Beaux Arts etc. Chabanian est membre fondateur de la Societe des peintres de marine.Il fait partie de plusieurs societes artistiques et litteraires en France et a l etranger. Enfin ce maitre est un des renovateurs avec Raffaelli de la gravure en couleurs.Il est du reste membre fondateur de la Societe de la gravure en couleurs. art recherche HELM LINDACH research kunst 2013 Textes d histoire d art par Peter Helm. 0700kunst/polpics Online and Printed Media 1980-2013 |
CHABANIAN ARSENE Masterprint Venice Italia Catalogo p.12
by Peter Helm
27.5.16 (81) 273.611
Don't Look Now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the film. For the short story by Daphne du Maurier from which it is adapted and the collection it appears in, see Not After Midnight. For other uses, see Don't Look Now (disambiguation).
Don't Look Now
Dont look movieposter.jpg
Original film poster
Directed by Nicolas Roeg
Produced by Peter Katz
Screenplay by Allan Scott
Chris Bryant
Based on "Don't Look Now"
by Daphne du Maurier
Starring Julie Christie
Donald Sutherland
Music by Pino Donaggio
Cinematography Anthony B. Richmond
Edited by Graeme Clifford
Production
company
Casey Productions
Eldorado Films
Distributed by British Lion Films
Release dates
16 October 1973
Running time
110 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Italy[1]
Language English
Italian
Budget $1.1 million
Don't Look Now is a 1973 independent British-Italian film directed by Nicolas Roeg. It is a thriller adapted from the short story by Daphne du Maurier. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland star as a married couple who travel to Venice following the recent accidental death of their daughter, after the husband accepts a commission to restore a church. They encounter two sisters, one of whom claims to be clairvoyant and informs them that their daughter is trying to contact them and warn them of danger. The husband at first dismisses their claims, but starts to experience mysterious sightings himself.
While Don't Look Now observes many conventions of the thriller genre, its primary focus is on the psychology of grief, and the effect the death of a child can have on a relationship. Its emotionally convincing depiction of grief is often singled out as a trait not usually present in films featuring supernatural plot elements.
As well as the unusual handling of its subject matter, Don't Look Now is renowned for its innovative editing style, and its use of recurring motifs and themes. The film often employs flashbacks and flashforwards in keeping with the depiction of precognition, but some scenes are intercut or merged to alter the viewer's perception of what is really happening. It also adopts an impressionist approach to its imagery, often presaging events with familiar objects, patterns and colours using associative editing techniques.
Originally causing controversy on its initial release due to an explicit and—for the time—very graphic sex scene between Christie and Sutherland, its reputation has grown considerably in the years since, and it is now acknowledged as a modern classic and an influential work in horror and British film.
Contents [hide]
1 Plot
2 Analysis
2.1 Themes
2.2 Inspirations
3 Production
3.1 Development
3.2 Filming
3.3 Scoring
4 Release
4.1 Sex scene controversy
4.2 Theatrical releases
4.3 Home media
5 Reception
5.1 Critical response and awards
5.2 Re-evaluation
5.3 Influence
6 References
7 Bibliography
8 External links
Plot[edit]
Some time after the drowning of their young daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), in a tragic accident at their English country home, John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) and his grief-stricken wife, Laura (Julie Christie), take a trip to Venice after John accepts a commission from a bishop (Massimo Serato) to restore an ancient church. Laura encounters two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania), at a restaurant where she and John are dining; Heather claims to be psychic and—despite being blind—informs Laura she is able to "see" the Baxters' deceased daughter. Shaken, Laura returns to her table, where she faints.
Laura is taken to the hospital, where she later tells John what Heather told her. John is sceptical but pleasantly surprised by the positive change in Laura's demeanour. Later in the evening after returning from the hospital, John and Laura engage in passionate sexual intercourse. Afterwards, they go out to dinner where they get lost and briefly become separated. John catches a glimpse of what appears to be a small child (Adelina Poerio) wearing a red coat similar to the one Christine was wearing when she died.
The next day, Laura meets with Heather and Wendy, who hold a séance to try to contact Christine. When she returns to the hotel Laura informs John that Christine has said he is in danger and must leave Venice. John loses his temper with Laura, but that night they receive a telephone call informing them that their son (Nicholas Salter) has been injured in an accident at his boarding school. Laura departs for England, while John stays on to complete the restoration. Under the assumption that Laura is in England, John is shocked when later that day he spots her on a vaporetto that is part of a funeral cortege, accompanied by the two sisters. Concerned about his wife's mental state and with reports of a serial killer at large in Venice, he reports Laura's disappearance to the police. The inspector (Renato Scarpa) investigating the killings is suspicious of John and has him followed.
After conducting a futile search for Laura and the sisters—in which he again sees the childlike figure in the red coat—John contacts his son's school to enquire about his condition, only to discover Laura is already there. After speaking to her to confirm she really is in England, a bewildered John returns to the police station to inform the police he has found his wife. In the meantime the police have brought Heather in for questioning, so an apologetic John offers to escort her back to the hotel.
Shortly after returning, Heather slips into a trance so John makes his excuses and quickly leaves. Upon coming out of it she beseeches her sister to go after John, sensing that something terrible is about to happen, but Wendy is unable to catch up with him. Meanwhile, John catches another glimpse of the mysterious figure in red and this time pursues it. He corners the elusive figure in a deserted palazzo and approaches it, believing it to be a child. Instead, it is revealed to be a hideous female dwarf, and while John is frozen in terror the dwarf pulls out a meat cleaver and cuts his throat. As the life drains from him, John realises too late that the strange sightings he has been experiencing were premonitions of his own murder and funeral.
Analysis[edit]
Themes[edit]
Don't Look Now ostensibly is an occult thriller,[2] but the genre conventions of the Gothic ghost story primarily serve to explore the minds of a grief-stricken couple.[3] The film's director, Nicolas Roeg, was intrigued by the idea of making "grief into the sole thrust of the film", noting that "Grief can separate people ... Even the closest, healthiest relationship can come undone through grief."[4] The presence of Christine, the Baxters' deceased daughter, weighs heavily on the mood of the film, as she and the nature of her death are constantly recalled through the film's imagery: there are regular flashbacks to Christine playing in her red coat as well as the sightings of the mysterious childlike figure also wearing a red coat which bears a likeness to her; the constant association of water with death is maintained via a serial-killer sub-plot, which sees victims periodically dragged from the canals; there is also a poignant moment when John fishes a child's doll out of a canal just as he did with his daughter's body at the beginning of the film.[5]
Water and the colour red are recurring motifs.
The associative use of recurring motifs combined with unorthodox editing techniques foreshadows key events in the film.[6] In Daphne du Maurier's novella it is Laura that wears a red coat, but in the film the colour is used to establish an association between Christine and the elusive figure that John keeps catching glimpses of.[7][8][9] Du Maurier's story actually opens in Venice following Christine's death from meningitis, but the decision was taken to change the cause of death to drowning and to include a prologue to exploit the water motif.[10] The threat of death from falling is also ever present throughout the film: besides Christine falling into the lake, Laura is taken to hospital after her fall in the restaurant, their son Johnny is injured in a fall at boarding school, the bishop overseeing the church restoration informs John that his father was killed in a fall, and John himself is nearly killed in a fall during the renovations.[11] Glass is frequently used as an omen that something bad is about to occur: just before Christine drowns, John knocks a glass of water over, and Johnny breaks a pane of glass; as Laura faints in the restaurant she knocks glassware off the table, and when John almost falls to his death in the church, a plank of wood shatters a pane of glass; finally, shortly before confronting the mysterious red clad figure, John asks the sisters for a glass of water, a piece of symbolism that prefigured Christine's death.[6]
The plot of the film is preoccupied with misinterpretation and mistaken identity: when John sees Laura on the barge with the sisters, he fails to realise it is a premonition and believes Laura is in Venice with them.[12] John himself is mistaken for a Peeping Tom when he follows Laura to the séance,[13] and ultimately he mistakes the mysterious red-coated figure for a child. The concept of Doppelgänger and duplicates feature prominently in the film: reproductions are a constantly recurring motif ranging from reflections in the water, to photographs, to police sketches and the photographic slides of the church John is restoring. Laura comments in a letter to their son that she can't tell the difference between the restored church windows and the "real thing", and later in the film John attempts to make a seamless match between recently manufactured tiles and the old ones in repairing an ancient mosaic.[6] Roeg describes the basic premise of the story as principally being that in life "nothing is what it seems",[4] and even decided to have Donald Sutherland's character utter the line—a scene which required fifteen takes.[14]
Communication is a theme that runs through much of Nicolas Roeg's work, and figures heavily in Don't Look Now.[15] This is best exemplified by the blind psychic woman, Heather, who communicates with the dead, but it is presented in other ways: the language barriers are purposefully enhanced by the decision to not include subtitles translating the Italian dialogue into English, so the viewer experiences the same confusion as John.[16] Women are presented as better at communicating than men: besides the clairvoyant being female, it is Laura who stays in regular contact with their son, Johnny;[17] when the Baxters receive a phone call informing them of Johnny's accident at the boarding school, the headmaster's inarticulateness in explaining the situation causes his wife to intercept and explain instead.[11]
Much has been made of the fragmented editing of Don't Look Now, and Nicolas Roeg's work in general. Time is presented as 'fluid', where the past, present and future can all exist in the same timeframe.[10] John's premonitions merge with the present, such as at the start of the film where the mysterious red-coated figure is seemingly depicted in one of his photographic slides, and when he 'sees' Laura on the funeral barge with the sisters and mistakenly believes he is seeing the present, but in fact it is a vision of the future.[12] The most famous use of this fragmented approach to time is during the love scene, in which the scenes of John and Laura having sex are intercut with scenes of them dressing afterwards to go out to dinner.[3][7] After John is attacked by his assailant in the climactic moments, the preceding events depicted during the course of the film are recalled through flashback, which may be perceived as his life flashing before his eyes.[18] At a narrative level the plot of Don't Look Now can be regarded as a self-fulfilling prophecy: it is John's premonitions of his death that set in motion the events leading up to his death.[12] According to the editor of the film, Graeme Clifford, Nicolas Roeg regarded the film as his "exercise in film grammar".[19]
Inspirations[edit]
Don't Look Now is particularly indebted to Alfred Hitchcock, exhibiting several characteristics of the director's work.[9] The aural match cut following Christine's death from Laura's scream to the screech of a drill references a cut in The 39 Steps, when a woman's scream cuts to the whistle of a steam train.[20] When John reports Laura's disappearance to the Italian police he inadvertently becomes a suspect in the murder case they are investigating—an innocent man being wrongly accused and pursued by the authorities is a common Hitchcock trait.[21] The film also takes a Hitchcockian approach to its mise en scène, by manifesting its protagonist's psychology in plot developments: in taking their trip to Venice the Baxters have run away from personal tragedy, and are often physically depicted as running to and from things during their stay in Venice; the labyrinthine geography of Venice causes John to lose his bearings, and he often becomes separated from Laura and is repeatedly shown to be looking for her—both physical realisations of what is going on in his head.[16]
Nicolas Roeg had employed the fractured editing style of Don't Look Now on his previous films, Performance and Walkabout, but it was originated by editor Antony Gibbs on Petulia. Roeg served as the cinematographer on Petulia, which incidentally also starred Julie Christie, and Gibbs went on to edit Performance and Walkabout for Roeg.[22] Roeg's use of colour—especially red—can be traced back to earlier work: both Performance and Walkabout feature scenes where the whole screen turns red, similar in nature to the scene during Christine's drowning when the spilt water on the church slide causes a reaction that makes it—along with the whole screen—turn completely red.[23] The mysterious red-coated figure and its association with death has a direct parallel with an earlier film Roeg worked on as cinematographer, The Masque of the Red Death, which depicted a red clad Grim Reaper character.[22] The fleeting glimpses of the mysterious red-coated figure possibly draw on Proust: in Remembrance of Things Past, while in Venice, the narrator catches sight of a red gown in the distance which brings pack painful memories of his lost love.[7]
Besides Proust, other possible literary influences include Borges and Nietzsche; Pauline Kael in her review comments that "Roeg comes closer to getting Borges on the screen than those who have tried it directly",[24] while Mark Sanderson in his BFI Modern Classics essay on the film, finds parallels with Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.[12]
Production[edit]
Don't Look Now was produced by Peter Katz through London based Casey Productions and Rome based Eldorado Films.[25] The script based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier was offered to Nicolas Roeg by scriptwriter Allan Scott, who had co-written the screenplay with Chris Bryant,[26] while Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland were cast in the principal roles. Filming began in England in December 1972, breaking off for Christmas, and resuming in January 1973 for seven more weeks in Italy.[27]
Development[edit]
Julie Christie attended a séance as part of her preparation for the role of Laura.
Don't Look Now was to be Nicolas Roeg's third directorial feature following Performance and Walkabout. Although real-life couple Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were suggested for the parts of Laura and John Baxter, Roeg was eager to cast Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland from the very start. Initially engaged by other projects both actors unexpectedly became available. Christie liked the script and was keen to work with Roeg who had served as cinematographer on Fahrenheit 451, Far from the Madding Crowd and Petulia in which she had starred. Sutherland also wanted to make the film but had some reservations about the depiction of clairvoyance in the script. He felt it was handled too negatively and believed that Don't Look Now should be a more "educative film", and that the "characters should in some way benefit from ESP and not be destroyed by it". Roeg was resistant to any changes and issued Sutherland with an ultimatum.[27]
Roeg wanted Julie Christie to attend a séance prior to filming. Leslie Flint, a direct voice medium based in Notting Hill, invited them to attend a session which he was holding for some American parapsychologists, who were coming over to observe him. Roeg and Christie went along and sat in a circle in the pitch dark and joined hands. Flint instructed his guests to "uncross" their legs, which Roeg subsequently incorporated into the film.[14]
Adelina Poerio was cast as the fleeting red-coated figure after Roeg saw her photo at a casting session in Rome. Standing at only 4'2" tall, she had a career as a singer.[26] Renato Scarpa was cast as Inspector Longhi, despite not being able to speak English and so he had no idea what he was saying in the film.[28]
Filming[edit]
The drowning scene and house exteriors were filmed in Hertfordshire at the home of actor David Tree, who also plays the headmaster at the son's boarding school.[27] Shooting the sequence was particularly problematic: Sharon Williams, who played Christine, became hysterical when submersed in the pond, despite the rehearsals at the swimming pool going well. A farmer on the neighbouring land volunteered his daughter who was an accomplished swimmer, but who refused to be submersed when it came to filming. In the end, the scene was filmed in a water tank using three girls.[26] Nicolas Roeg and editor Graeme Clifford showed the opening sequence to some friends before filming resumed on the Venice segment, and Clifford recalls it making a considerable impression.[19]
The Venice locations included the Hotel Gabrielli Sandwirth—the lobby and exteriors standing in for the film's fictional Europa Hotel, although the Baxters' suite was located at the Bauer Grunwald (which better accommodated the cameras)—and the San Nicolò dei Mendicoli (the Church of St. Nicholas "of the beggars"), located on the outskirts of Venice. Finding an appropriate church proved difficult: after visiting most of the churches in Venice, the Italian location manager suggested constructing one in a warehouse. The discovery of San Nicolò was particularly fortuitous since it was currently being renovated and the scaffolding was already in place, the circumstances lending themselves well to the plot of the film. Roeg decided not to use traditional tourist locations to purposefully avoid a "travel documentary" look. Venice turned out to be a difficult place to film in, mainly due to the tides which caused problems with the continuity and transporting equipment.[29][30]
Filming the scene in which John almost falls to his death while restoring the mosaic in San Nicolò church was also beset by problems, and resulted in Donald Sutherland's life being put in danger. The scene entailed some of the scaffolding collapsing leaving John dangling by a rope, but the stuntman refused to perform the stunt because the insurance was not in order. Sutherland ended up doing it instead, and was attached to a kirby wire as a precaution in case he should fall. Some time after the film had come out, renowned stunt co-ordinator Vic Armstrong commented to Sutherland that the wire was not designed for that purpose, and the twirling around caused by holding on to the rope would have damaged the wire to the extent it would have snapped if Sutherland had let go.[31]
While many of the changes were down to the logistics of filming in Venice, some were for creative reasons, the most prominent being the inclusion of the famous love scene. The scene was in fact an unscripted last minute improvisation by Roeg, who felt that without it there would be too many scenes of the couple arguing.[4] The scene set in the church where Laura lights a candle for Christine was mostly improvised too. Originally intended to show the gulf between John's and Laura's mental states—John's denial and Laura's inability to let go—the script included two pages of dialogue to illustrate John's unease at Laura's marked display of grief. After a break in filming to allow the crew to set up the equipment, Donald Sutherland returned to the set and commented that he did not like the church, to which Julie Christie retorted that he was being "silly", and the church was "beautiful". Roeg felt that the exchange was more true to life in terms of what the characters would actually say to each other, and that the scripted version was "overwritten", so opted to ditch the scripted dialogue and included the real-life exchange instead.[14]
The funeral scene at the end of the film was also played differently from what was originally intended. Julie Christie was supposed to wear a veil to hide away her face, but prior to filming Roeg suggested to Christie that she should play it without the veil and smile throughout the scene. Christie was initially sceptical, but Roeg felt it would not make sense for the character to be heartbroken if she believed her husband and daughter were together in the afterlife.[19]
Scoring[edit]
Pino Donaggio – Don't Look Now
MENU0:00
Sample from "Laura's Theme".
Problems playing this file? See media help.
The score was composed by Pino Donaggio, a native Venetian who was a popular singer at the time (he had a hit with "lo Che Non Vivo" which was covered by Dusty Springfield in 1966 as "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me"); prior to Don't Look Now, Donaggio had never scored a film. Ugo Mariotti, a producer on the film, spotted Donaggio on a Vaporetto on the Grand Canal in Venice, and believing it to be a "sign" contacted him to see if he would be interested in working on the film. Donaggio was reluctant at first because he did not understand why they would be interested in someone who had no experience of scoring films.
Donaggio had no interest in making soundtracks for films at the time, but was introduced to Nicolas Roeg who decided to try him out and asked him to write something for the beginning of the film. Roeg was enthusiastic about the result but the London-based producers were resistant to hiring someone who had no background in films. The film's financiers were pleased with Donaggio's work and overruled the producers. As well as composing the score, Donaggio performed a substantial portion of it himself. The piano pieces were performed by Donaggio, despite the fact that he was not very accomplished at playing the piano. The piano pieces are usually associated with Christine in the film, and Roeg wanted them to have an innocent sound reminiscent of a little girl learning to play the piano. Donaggio claims that since he was not very good at playing the piano, the pieces had an unsure style to them, perfect for the effect they were trying to capture.
The only disagreement over the musical direction of the film was for the score accompanying the love scene. Donaggio composed a grand orchestral piece, but Roeg thought the effect was overkill, and wanted it toned down. In the end the scene just used a combination of the piano, the flute, an acoustic guitar and an acoustic bass guitar. The piano was played by Donaggio again, who also played the flute; in contrast to his skill as a pianist, Donaggio was a renowned flautist, famous for it at the conservatory. Donaggio conceded that the more low-key theme worked better in the sequence and ditched the high strings orchestral piece, reworking it for the funeral scene at the end of the film.
Donaggio won a 'best soundtrack of the year' award for his work on the film, which gave him the confidence to quit his successful singing career and embark on a career scoring films. Donaggio became a regular composer for Brian De Palma films and credits Nicolas Roeg with giving him his first lesson in writing film scores, and expressed a desire to work with him again.[32]
Release[edit]
Sex scene controversy[edit]
File:Don't Look Now love scene .ogg
Sample from the love scene.
Don't Look Now has become famous for a sex scene involving Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, which caused considerable controversy prior to its release in 1973. British tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mail, observed at the time "one of the frankest love scenes ever to be filmed is likely to plunge lovely Julie Christie into the biggest censorship row since Last Tango in Paris". The scene was unusually graphic for the period, including a rare depiction of cunnilingus in a mainstream film.[3]
Christie commented that "people didn't do scenes like that in those days", and that she found the scenes difficult to film: "There were no available examples, no role models ... I just went blank and Nic [Roeg] shouted instructions." The scene caused problems with censors on both sides of the Atlantic. The American censor advised Nicolas Roeg explicitly, saying, "We cannot see humping. We cannot see the rise and fall between thighs." The scene's much celebrated fragmented style, in which scenes of the couple having sexual intercourse are intercut with scenes of the couple post-coitally getting dressed to go out to dinner, partly came about through Roeg's attempt to accommodate the concerns of the censors: "They scrutinised it and found absolutely nothing they could object to. If someone goes up, you cut and the next time you see them they're in a different position, you obviously fill in the gaps for yourself. But, technically speaking, there was no 'humping' in that scene." In the end, Roeg only cut nine frames from the sequence, and the film was awarded an R rating in the United States. In Britain, the British Board of Film Classification judged the uncut version to be "tasteful and integral to the plot", and a scene in which Donald Sutherland's character can be clearly seen performing oral sex on Christie's character was permitted, but it was still given an X rating—an adults only certificate.[3][33]
The sex scene remained controversial for some years after the film's release. The BBC cut it altogether when Don't Look Now premiered on UK television, causing a flood of complaints from viewers.[14][34] The intimacy of the scene led to rumours that Christie and Sutherland had unsimulated sex which have persisted for years, and that outtakes from the scene were doing the rounds in screening rooms.[9][35][36] Michael Deeley, who oversaw the film's UK distribution, claimed on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs that Warren Beatty had flown to London and demanded that the sex scene—featuring then girlfriend Julie Christie—be cut from the film.[37] The rumours were seemingly confirmed in 2011 by former Variety editor Peter Bart, who was a Paramount executive at the time. In his book, Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex), Bart says he was on set on the day the scene was filmed and could clearly see Sutherland's penis "moving in and out of" Christie. Bart also reiterated Warren Beatty's discontent, noting that Beatty had contacted him to complain about what he perceived to be Roeg's exploitation of Christie, and insisting that he be allowed to help edit the film.[38][39] Sutherland subsequently issued a statement through his publicist stating that the claims were not true, and that Bart did not witness the scene being filmed. Peter Katz, the film's producer, corroborated Sutherland's account that the sex was entirely simulated.[40]
Theatrical releases[edit]
Don't Look Now—marketed as a "psychic thriller"[41]—was released in Britain on 16 October 1973, as the main feature of a double bill.[25] The Wicker Man was its accompanying 'B' feature and—like Don't Look Now—went on to achieve great acclaim.[10] The two films have thematic similarities, and both end with their protagonists being led to preordained fates by a 'child' they believe to be helping.[2] Michael Deeley, who was managing director of British Lion Films at the time of the film's release, claimed that the film's US reception was hurt by Paramount Pictures rushing the film into cinemas too early, due to the unexpected failure of Jonathan Livingston Seagull;[42] despite its mismanaged distribution, Peter Bart—from his time at Paramount—recalls it performing "fairly well" at the box office.[38] The film had recouped most of its expenses before it was even released, with its $1.1 million budget offset by the fee Paramount paid for the US distribution rights.[42]
Don't Look Now was chosen by the British Film Institute in 2000 as one of eight classic films from those that had begun to deteriorate to undergo restoration.[43] On completion of the restoration in 2001, the film was given another theatrical release.[44]
Home media[edit]
Don't Look Now has been released on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. Extras include an introduction by film journalist Alan Jones, an audio commentary by director Nicolas Roeg, a retrospective documentary featurette ("Looking Back"), an extract from a 1980s documentary about Roeg ("Nothing is as it Seems"), and interviews with Donald Sutherland, composer Pino Donaggio ("Death in Venice"), scriptwriter Allan Scott, cinematographer Anthony Richmond and film director Danny Boyle, as well as a "compressed" version of the film made by Boyle for a BAFTA tribute.[45][46][47]
A new DVD and Blu-ray release with a 4K digital restoration was released in 2015 by The Criterion Collection. In addition to the "Death in Venice" and "Looking Back" featurettes which accompanied earlier editions, there is a conversation between editor Graeme Clifford and film writer Bobbie O’Steen, an essay by film critic David Thomson and a Q&A with Roeg at London’s Ciné Lumière from 2003. Two new documentaries are also included: the first documentary, "Something Interesting", features interviews with Anthony Richmond, Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie and Allan Scott about the making of the film; the second, "Nicolas Roeg: The Enigma of Film", features interviews with Danny Boyle and fellow film-maker Steven Soderbergh discussing Roeg's cinematic style.[48]
Reception[edit]
Critical response and awards[edit]
At the time of its initial release, Don't Look Now was generally well received by critics,[36] although some criticised it for being "arty and mechanical".[35] Jay Cocks for Time, wrote that "Don't Look Now is such a rich, complex and subtle experience that it demands more than one viewing",[49] while Variety commented that the film's visual flourishes made it "much more than merely a well-made psycho-horror thriller".[50] Pauline Kael writing for The New Yorker was more reserved in her praise, considering the film to be "the fanciest, most carefully assembled enigma yet put on the screen" but that there was a "distasteful clamminess about the picture",[24] while Gordon Gow of Films and Filming felt that it fell short of the aspirations of Nicolas Roeg's previous two films, Performance and Walkabout, but it was nevertheless a thriller of some depth.[3] Vincent Canby, reviewer for The New York Times, on the other hand, criticised the film for a lack of suspense which he put down to a twist that comes halfway through rather than at the end, and at which point it "stops being suspenseful and becomes an elegant travelogue that treats us to second-sightseeing in Venice". Canby also suggested that second sight was not convincing on screen, since it appeared simply like flash-forward which is a standard story-telling device in films, and concluded that "Not only do you probably have better things to do, but so, I'm sure, do most of the people connected with the film."[51]
British critics were especially enthusiastic about Nicolas Roeg's direction. In the view of Tom Milne of Monthly Film Bulletin, Roeg's combined work on Performance, Walkabout and Don't Look Now put him "right up at the top as film-maker".[3] George Melly similarly wrote in The Observer that Roeg had joined "that handful of names whose appearance at the end of the credit titles automatically creates a sense of anticipation".[2] Penelope Houston for Sight & Sound also found much to appreciate in Roeg's direction: "Roeg deploys subtle powers of direction and Hitchcockian misdirection."[3] American critics were similarly impressed with Roeg's work on the film. Jay Cocks regarded Don't Look Now to be Roeg's best work by far and that Roeg was one of "those rare talents that can effect a new way of seeing". Cocks also felt that the film was a marked improvement on the novella, noting that a reading "makes one appreciate Roeg and Screenwriters [Allan] Scott and [Chris] Bryant all the more. Film and story share certain basic elements of plot and an ending of cruel surprise. The story is detached, almost cursory. Roeg and his collaborators have constructed an intricate, intense speculation about levels of perception and reality."[49] Roger Ebert in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times commented that Roeg is "a genius at filling his frame with threatening forms and compositions",[41] while Pauline Kael labelled him "chillingly chic" in hers.[24] Even Vincent Canby, whose opinion of the film was negative overall, praised Roeg for being able to "maintain a sense of menace long after the screenplay has any right to expect it".[51]
Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland also received praise for their performances. Variety considered Sutherland to be at his most subdued but also at his most effective, while Christie does her "best work in ages".[50] Cocks felt that thanks to their superb performances the film had a "rigorous psychological truth and an emotional timbre" that most other films in the supernatural genre lacked.[49] Canby considered the "sincerity of the actors" to be one of the better aspects of the film,[51] while Kael found Christie especially suited to the part, observing she has the "anxious face of a modern tragic muse".[52]
The use of Venice locations was highly praised.
Roeg's use of Venice was praised too, with Roger Ebert finding that he "uses Venice as well as she's ever been used in a movie",[41] and Canby also noted Venice is used to great effect: "He gets a great performance from Venice, which is all wintery grays, blues and blacks, the color of the pigeons that are always underfoot."[51] Variety also found much to admire about the editing, writing that it is "careful and painstaking (the classically brilliant and erotic love-making scene is merely one of several examples) and plays a vital role in setting the film's mood".[50]
Daphne du Maurier was pleased with the adaptation of her story, and wrote to Nicolas Roeg to congratulate him for capturing the essence of John and Laura's relationship.[20] The film was not received well by Venetians, particularly the councillors who were afraid it would scare away tourists.[32]
At the 27th British Academy Film Awards, Anthony B. Richmond won for Best Cinematography, and Don't Look Now received further nominations in the Best Film, Direction, Actor, Actress, Sound Track and Film Editing categories.[53] It was also nominated in the Best Motion Picture category at the 1974 Edgar Allan Poe Awards.[54]
Re-evaluation[edit]
The reputation of Don't Look Now has grown since its release and it is now regarded as a key work in horror cinema.[10] It has led to some critics re-evaluating their original opinions of it: Roger Ebert, nearly thirty years after his original review, states that he has come to an "accommodation" with his reservations about what he terms the "admitted weakness of the denouement". Having gone through the film shot by shot, he now considers it a "masterpiece of physical filmmaking, in the way the photography evokes mood and the editing underlines it with uncertainty".[55] It was ranked 127th by Sight & Sound in the 2012 edition of their prestigious decennial critics poll.[56]
Don't Look Now is also very well regarded by other industry professionals, placing in the top 100 on Sight & Sound's directors poll, run in tandem with their critics poll.[56] A survey of 1000 people who work across the film and television industry, undertaken by the British Film Institute in 1999, saw the film ranked eighth on their list of top 100 British films of the 20th century.[57] It also topped a similar list organised by Time Out London in 2011, in which 150 film industry professionals were polled.[58] In 2012 Time Out also undertook a poll of the horror industry, in which more than 100 professionals who work within or have connections to the genre selected their favourite horror films, which saw Don't Look Now finish in twelfth position.[59]
Influence[edit]
I just thought that it was a beautifully shot, really adult look at real-life horror stories, and there was a great degree of sexuality in it that, as a young kid, when I saw it, I remember I was very startled by. It felt very brave to me, and I think it still holds up. Nick Roeg is a brilliant director.
Ryan Murphy on Don't Look Now.[60]
Don't Look Now has been much admired by and an influence on subsequent filmmakers. Danny Boyle cites Nicolas Roeg as a key influence on his work and counts it amongst his favourite films.[61][62] Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Jeremy Dyson drew upon Don't Look Now considerably for their television series The League of Gentlemen; Pemberton ranks it among the top three British horror films of the 1960s and 1970s, and says that he wants things he has written to make audiences feel the way he felt when he watched the The Wicker Man and Don't Look Now.[63][64][65] Similarly, Ryan Murphy considers his TV series American Horror Story to be a throwback to '60s and '70s psychological horror, citing Don't Look Now, Rosemary's Baby and The Shining as particular examples.[66] Thematic and narrative similarities with Lars von Trier's Antichrist have also been observed,[67] with Antichrist's cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, commenting that he has watched Don't Look Now more times than any other film.[68] Fabrice Du Welz, whose film Vinyan has often been compared to Don't Look Now, has stated that it is a film he is "obsessed with", and one of his favourites,[69] while Lynne Ramsay cited it as an influence on We Need to Talk about Kevin, which incidentally is also produced by Roeg's son, Luc.[70] Ami Canaan Mann has also acknowledged she was influenced by atmospheric thrillers such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Don't Look Now while directing her debut feature, Texas Killing Fields.[71]
Its imagery has been directly referenced in several works. The 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale contains a small homage where James Bond pursues a female character through Venice, catching glimpses of her through the crowds wearing a red dress.[72] The Bruges set thriller, In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell, includes a number of explicit references;[73] director Martin McDonagh said that the "Venice of Don't Look Now" was the template for the depiction of Bruges in his film,[74] and the film includes numerous thematic similarities, including one character stating that the film she is working on is a "pastiche of Don't Look Now". Flatliners, a 1990 supernatural thriller directed by Joel Schumacher, also draws explicitly on the red-coated childlike figure by having a character terrorised by a child wearing a red coat;[75] coincidentally, the character who is being tormented is played by Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland's son. In the 2007 stage play of Don't Look Now, written by Nell Leyshon and directed by Lucy Bailey, the play made a conscious effort to bypass the film and be a faithful adaptation of du Maurier's short story, but it did however retain the iconic red mac from the film as worn by the elusive childlike figure.[76][77]
Its influence is less obvious but still apparent in Out of Sight, a 1998 film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The famous intercutting technique used in the sex scene was used to similar effect in a sex scene featuring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez.[9][78] The film's imagery and stylistic techniques have served as an inspiration to films such as Schindler's List directed by Steven Spielberg,[79] Memento by Christopher Nolan,[80][81][82] The Dark by John Fawcett,[83] Frozen by Juliet McKoen,[84] Submarine by Richard Ayoade,[85] and Snow White and the Huntsman by Rupert Sanders.[86] David Cronenberg regards it as the most frightening film he has seen,[87] and its influence has been detected on Cronenberg's The Brood.[88]
Nicolas Roeg has never been slow to draw upon the world of pop music for his work, casting Mick Jagger in Performance, David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth and Art Garfunkel in Bad Timing, and in turn his films have served as inspiration for musicians. Big Audio Dynamite wrote a tribute song to Roeg, called "E=MC2", which included lyrical references to Don't Look Now—among Roeg's other films—along with clips from it in the video, directed by Luc Roeg,[89] while Sophie Ellis-Bextor performed a "pop synth homage" to Don't Look Now with her song, "Catch You".[90]
References[edit]
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^ Jump up to: a b c French, Philip (9 April 2006). "The sexual power and terror that produced a classic". The Observer. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Sanderson 1996, pp. 21–23.
^ Jump up to: a b c O'Hagan, Sean (9 April 2006). "The sexual power and terror that produced a classic". The Observer. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, pp. 30, 45 & 59.
^ Jump up to: a b c Sanderson 1996, pp. 42–44.
^ Jump up to: a b c Bradshaw, Peter (18 January 2011). "Don't Look Now and Roeg's red coat". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, pp. 10–11, 60.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Morrison, Alan (September 2006). "At Home: Masterpiece #36 – Don't Look Now". Empire (207): 160–161. UPC 9770957494184.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Jones, Alan (2006). Don't Look Now: An Introduction by Alan Jones. In: Don't Look Now (Special Edition) (DVD).
^ Jump up to: a b Sanderson 1996, p. 48.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Sanderson 1996, pp. 61–62.
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^ Jump up to: a b c d Sanderson 1996, pp. 76–78.
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^ Jump up to: a b Sanderson 1996, pp. 25–27.
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^ Jump up to: a b c Gregory, David (2002). Don't Look Now: Looking Back. In: Don't Look Now (Special Edition) (DVD).
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^ Jump up to: a b Sinyard, Neil. "Roeg, Nicolas (1928–)". Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, pp. 31–32.
^ Jump up to: a b c Kael, Pauline (1973). "Excerpt from Don't Look Now review". Movie Film Review. Chris Tookey. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Sanderson 1996, p. 81.
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^ Jump up to: a b c Sanderson 1996, pp. 17–19.
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Jump up ^ Reeves, Tony (11 August 2011). "Don't Look Now film locations". The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
Jump up ^ Mark Cousins (22 March 2001). "Donald Sutherland". Scene by Scene. 15 minutes in. BBC. BBC Two.
^ Jump up to: a b Gregory, David (2006). Death in Venice. In: Don't Look Now (Special Edition) (DVD).
Jump up ^ "Nicolas Roeg on Don't Look Now". Film4. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Roeg, Nicolas (3 February 2008). "Sex had to be on the menu". The Observer. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Guthmann, Edward (1 January 1999). "Labyrinthine `Look' Is Back – Roeg's '73 thriller reprised at Castro". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Billson, Anne (22 October 2010). "Don't Look Now: No 3 best horror film of all time". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Clinton, Jane (14 December 2008). "Day Beatty tried to ban sex scene....". Daily Express. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Bart 2011, pp. 92–95.
Jump up ^ Fernandez, Jay A. (22 March 2011). "Forthcoming Peter Bart Book Answers Long-Simmering Question About Julie Christie Sex Scene". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
Jump up ^ Fernandez, Jay A. (24 March 2011). "Donald Sutherland Unequivocally Denies 'Don't Look Now' Sex (Again)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c Ebert, Roger (20 December 1973). "Don't Look Now". rogerebert.com (Chicago Sun-Times). Retrieved 20 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Deeley 2009, pp. 99–104.
Jump up ^ "More Breakfast at Tiffany's". BBC News (BBC). 20 September 2000. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "A vision of hell and high water". The Observer. 25 March 2001. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ van Beek, Anton. "Don't Look Now – Blu-ray". Home Cinema Choice. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
Jump up ^ "Don't Look Now, Bluray" (Press release). Optimum Releasing. 4 July 2011. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
Jump up ^ "Don't Look Now (Special Edition)". StudioCanal UK. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
Jump up ^ "Don't Look Now (1973) – The Criterion Collection" (Press release). The Criterion Collection. 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b c Cocks, Jay (10 December 1973). "Cinema: Second Sight". Time. Archived from the original on 5 September 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c Variety staff (31 December 1973). "Don't Look Now". Variety. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Canby, Vincent (10 December 1973). "Don't Look Now (1973) – Film:'Don't Look Now,' a Horror Tale:Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in Leads The Cast Suspense Yarn Turns Into a Travelogue". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Addiego, Walter (6 February 1998). "Basking in Christie's afterglow". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "BAFTA Awards Search – Don't Look Now". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
Jump up ^ "Edgars Database" (Winners and nominees search on title: Don't Look Now). TheEdgars.com. Mystery Writers of America. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (13 October 2002). "Don't Look Now (1974)". rogerebert.com (Chicago Sun-Times). Retrieved 22 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b "The Greatest Films Poll: Don't Look Now". British Film Institute. 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
Jump up ^ "The BFI 100: 1–10". London: British Film Institute. 1999. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
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Jump up ^ "The 100 best horror films: the full list – 20–1". Time Out (London). April 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
Jump up ^ Radish, Christina (27 August 2011). "Co-Creator Ryan Murphy Interview: American Horror Story". Collider.com. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Jones, Alice (7 May 2009). "Film favourites: Politicians to pop stars reveal the movies that changed their life". The Independent. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "The Danny Boyle Webchat Transcript". Empire. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Walsh, John (29 September 2005). "The League of Gentlemen: A league of their own". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ McLean, Gareth (10 February 2001). "Odd men out". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Cavendish, Dominic (27 May 2005). "Stepping into the big League". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Itzkoff, Dave (2 October 2011). "Don’t Stop Screaming: The ‘Glee’ Guys Introduce Their ‘American Horror Story’". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Emerson, Jim (5 October 2009). "VIFF: Antichrist: A pew in satan's church". Jim Emerson's scanners: blog (Chicago Sun-Times). Retrieved 23 June 2011.
Jump up ^ "Stills life: Anthony Dod Mantle". The Guardian. 30 June 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
Jump up ^ Carnevale, Rob. "Vinyan – Fabrice du Welz interview". IndieLondon. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
Jump up ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (14 May 2011). "Cannes sensation Lynne Ramsay finds inspiration in her own family drama". The Observer. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
Jump up ^ Farber, Stephen (13 October 2011). "Killing a Hollywood Legacy". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
Jump up ^ ""Casino Royale" production notes" (PDF). Sony Pictures Entertainment. 2006. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2012.
Jump up ^ Horne, Philip (26 August 2008). "See Naples and die. Literally". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Hammond, Wally (2008). "Martin McDonagh on 'In Bruges'". Time Out (London). Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ James, Caryn (10 August 1990). "Flatliners (1990) Review/Film; Young Doctors Explore the Boundary Between Life and Death". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Walker, Lynne (2 March 2007). "Don't Look Now, Lyceum, Sheffield". The Independent. Archived from the original on 28 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
Jump up ^ Cavendish, Dominic (16 March 2007). "Haunted by a spirit from the past". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
Jump up ^ Clarke, Roger (1 December 2006). "Story of the Scene: 'Don't Look Now' Nicolas Roeg (1973)". The Independent. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ O'Sullivan, Tom (6 February 2000). "Beg, borrow or steal". The Observer. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
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Jump up ^ Kania 2009, p. 133.
Jump up ^ Gilbey, Ryan (10 March 2011). "Nicolas Roeg: 'I don't want to be ahead of my time'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
Jump up ^ French, Philip (9 April 2006). "The Dark". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ French, Philip (29 January 2006). "Frozen". The Observer. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Bradshaw, Peter (17 March 2011). "Submarine – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Dodes, Rachel (24 May 2012). "Snow White and The 'Sizzle Reel'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
Jump up ^ Cronenberg, David (14 September 2014). David Cronenberg: ‘My imagination is not a place of horror’. The Observer. Interview with Tim Lewis. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (5 June 1979). "The Brood".rogerebert.com (Chicago Sun-Times). Retrieved 20 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Wood, Jason (3 June 2005). "His brilliant career". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Eyre, Hermione (28 April 2007). "Ice queen: Sophie Ellis-Bextor, pop's coolest diva". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 October 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Bibliography[edit]
Don't Look Now (Special Edition) (DVD). United Kingdom: Optimum Releasing. 2006. UPC 5060034577164.
Bart, Peter (2011). Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex). Weinstein Books. ISBN 978-1-60286-139-8.
Deeley, Michael (2009). Blade Runners, Deer Hunters and Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies. Pegasus Books.
Kania, Andrew (2009). Memento. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77474-1.
Mottram, James (2011). The Making of Memento. Faber and Faber. ISBN 9780571279517.
Sanderson, Mark (1996). Don't Look Now. London: British Film Institute. ISBN 0-85170-572-3.
Scott, Allan; Bryant, Chris (1997) [1973 screenplay]. Don't Look Now. Sight & Sound. ASIN B000P5ZGC2.
External links[edit]
Don't Look Now at the Internet Movie Database
Don't Look Now at BFI Screenonline
Nicolas Roeg discusses Don't Look Now at The Culture Show
John Landis on "Don't Look Now" at Trailers From Hell
Moviedrome introduction on YouTube
[hide] v t e
Films directed by Nicolas Roeg
Performance (1970) Walkabout (1971) Glastonbury Fayre (1972) Don't Look Now (1973) The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) Bad Timing (1980) Eureka (1983) Insignificance (1985) Aria (1987, segment: "Un ballo in maschera") Castaway (1986) Track 29 (1988) The Witches (1990) Cold Heaven (1991) Heart of Darkness (1993) Two Deaths (1995) Full Body Massage (1995) Samson and Delilah (1996) Puffball (2007)
Authority control
WorldCat Identities VIAF: 208717245 GND: 4643163-9
Categories: 1973 films1970s psychological thriller films1973 horror filmsFilms directed by Nicolas RoegBritish filmsItalian filmsBritish horror filmsBritish thriller filmsItalian horror filmsItalian thriller filmsSupernatural thriller filmsSupernatural horror filmsSerial killer filmsEnglish-language filmsItalian-language filmsFilms set in VeniceFilms set in HertfordshireAdaptations of works by Daphne du MaurierFilms based on short fictionFilm scores by Pino Donaggio
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by Peter Helm
27.5.16 (81) 273.611
Don't Look Now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the film. For the short story by Daphne du Maurier from which it is adapted and the collection it appears in, see Not After Midnight. For other uses, see Don't Look Now (disambiguation).
Don't Look Now
Dont look movieposter.jpg
Original film poster
Directed by Nicolas Roeg
Produced by Peter Katz
Screenplay by Allan Scott
Chris Bryant
Based on "Don't Look Now"
by Daphne du Maurier
Starring Julie Christie
Donald Sutherland
Music by Pino Donaggio
Cinematography Anthony B. Richmond
Edited by Graeme Clifford
Production
company
Casey Productions
Eldorado Films
Distributed by British Lion Films
Release dates
16 October 1973
Running time
110 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Italy[1]
Language English
Italian
Budget $1.1 million
Don't Look Now is a 1973 independent British-Italian film directed by Nicolas Roeg. It is a thriller adapted from the short story by Daphne du Maurier. Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland star as a married couple who travel to Venice following the recent accidental death of their daughter, after the husband accepts a commission to restore a church. They encounter two sisters, one of whom claims to be clairvoyant and informs them that their daughter is trying to contact them and warn them of danger. The husband at first dismisses their claims, but starts to experience mysterious sightings himself.
While Don't Look Now observes many conventions of the thriller genre, its primary focus is on the psychology of grief, and the effect the death of a child can have on a relationship. Its emotionally convincing depiction of grief is often singled out as a trait not usually present in films featuring supernatural plot elements.
As well as the unusual handling of its subject matter, Don't Look Now is renowned for its innovative editing style, and its use of recurring motifs and themes. The film often employs flashbacks and flashforwards in keeping with the depiction of precognition, but some scenes are intercut or merged to alter the viewer's perception of what is really happening. It also adopts an impressionist approach to its imagery, often presaging events with familiar objects, patterns and colours using associative editing techniques.
Originally causing controversy on its initial release due to an explicit and—for the time—very graphic sex scene between Christie and Sutherland, its reputation has grown considerably in the years since, and it is now acknowledged as a modern classic and an influential work in horror and British film.
Contents [hide]
1 Plot
2 Analysis
2.1 Themes
2.2 Inspirations
3 Production
3.1 Development
3.2 Filming
3.3 Scoring
4 Release
4.1 Sex scene controversy
4.2 Theatrical releases
4.3 Home media
5 Reception
5.1 Critical response and awards
5.2 Re-evaluation
5.3 Influence
6 References
7 Bibliography
8 External links
Plot[edit]
Some time after the drowning of their young daughter, Christine (Sharon Williams), in a tragic accident at their English country home, John Baxter (Donald Sutherland) and his grief-stricken wife, Laura (Julie Christie), take a trip to Venice after John accepts a commission from a bishop (Massimo Serato) to restore an ancient church. Laura encounters two elderly sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania), at a restaurant where she and John are dining; Heather claims to be psychic and—despite being blind—informs Laura she is able to "see" the Baxters' deceased daughter. Shaken, Laura returns to her table, where she faints.
Laura is taken to the hospital, where she later tells John what Heather told her. John is sceptical but pleasantly surprised by the positive change in Laura's demeanour. Later in the evening after returning from the hospital, John and Laura engage in passionate sexual intercourse. Afterwards, they go out to dinner where they get lost and briefly become separated. John catches a glimpse of what appears to be a small child (Adelina Poerio) wearing a red coat similar to the one Christine was wearing when she died.
The next day, Laura meets with Heather and Wendy, who hold a séance to try to contact Christine. When she returns to the hotel Laura informs John that Christine has said he is in danger and must leave Venice. John loses his temper with Laura, but that night they receive a telephone call informing them that their son (Nicholas Salter) has been injured in an accident at his boarding school. Laura departs for England, while John stays on to complete the restoration. Under the assumption that Laura is in England, John is shocked when later that day he spots her on a vaporetto that is part of a funeral cortege, accompanied by the two sisters. Concerned about his wife's mental state and with reports of a serial killer at large in Venice, he reports Laura's disappearance to the police. The inspector (Renato Scarpa) investigating the killings is suspicious of John and has him followed.
After conducting a futile search for Laura and the sisters—in which he again sees the childlike figure in the red coat—John contacts his son's school to enquire about his condition, only to discover Laura is already there. After speaking to her to confirm she really is in England, a bewildered John returns to the police station to inform the police he has found his wife. In the meantime the police have brought Heather in for questioning, so an apologetic John offers to escort her back to the hotel.
Shortly after returning, Heather slips into a trance so John makes his excuses and quickly leaves. Upon coming out of it she beseeches her sister to go after John, sensing that something terrible is about to happen, but Wendy is unable to catch up with him. Meanwhile, John catches another glimpse of the mysterious figure in red and this time pursues it. He corners the elusive figure in a deserted palazzo and approaches it, believing it to be a child. Instead, it is revealed to be a hideous female dwarf, and while John is frozen in terror the dwarf pulls out a meat cleaver and cuts his throat. As the life drains from him, John realises too late that the strange sightings he has been experiencing were premonitions of his own murder and funeral.
Analysis[edit]
Themes[edit]
Don't Look Now ostensibly is an occult thriller,[2] but the genre conventions of the Gothic ghost story primarily serve to explore the minds of a grief-stricken couple.[3] The film's director, Nicolas Roeg, was intrigued by the idea of making "grief into the sole thrust of the film", noting that "Grief can separate people ... Even the closest, healthiest relationship can come undone through grief."[4] The presence of Christine, the Baxters' deceased daughter, weighs heavily on the mood of the film, as she and the nature of her death are constantly recalled through the film's imagery: there are regular flashbacks to Christine playing in her red coat as well as the sightings of the mysterious childlike figure also wearing a red coat which bears a likeness to her; the constant association of water with death is maintained via a serial-killer sub-plot, which sees victims periodically dragged from the canals; there is also a poignant moment when John fishes a child's doll out of a canal just as he did with his daughter's body at the beginning of the film.[5]
Water and the colour red are recurring motifs.
The associative use of recurring motifs combined with unorthodox editing techniques foreshadows key events in the film.[6] In Daphne du Maurier's novella it is Laura that wears a red coat, but in the film the colour is used to establish an association between Christine and the elusive figure that John keeps catching glimpses of.[7][8][9] Du Maurier's story actually opens in Venice following Christine's death from meningitis, but the decision was taken to change the cause of death to drowning and to include a prologue to exploit the water motif.[10] The threat of death from falling is also ever present throughout the film: besides Christine falling into the lake, Laura is taken to hospital after her fall in the restaurant, their son Johnny is injured in a fall at boarding school, the bishop overseeing the church restoration informs John that his father was killed in a fall, and John himself is nearly killed in a fall during the renovations.[11] Glass is frequently used as an omen that something bad is about to occur: just before Christine drowns, John knocks a glass of water over, and Johnny breaks a pane of glass; as Laura faints in the restaurant she knocks glassware off the table, and when John almost falls to his death in the church, a plank of wood shatters a pane of glass; finally, shortly before confronting the mysterious red clad figure, John asks the sisters for a glass of water, a piece of symbolism that prefigured Christine's death.[6]
The plot of the film is preoccupied with misinterpretation and mistaken identity: when John sees Laura on the barge with the sisters, he fails to realise it is a premonition and believes Laura is in Venice with them.[12] John himself is mistaken for a Peeping Tom when he follows Laura to the séance,[13] and ultimately he mistakes the mysterious red-coated figure for a child. The concept of Doppelgänger and duplicates feature prominently in the film: reproductions are a constantly recurring motif ranging from reflections in the water, to photographs, to police sketches and the photographic slides of the church John is restoring. Laura comments in a letter to their son that she can't tell the difference between the restored church windows and the "real thing", and later in the film John attempts to make a seamless match between recently manufactured tiles and the old ones in repairing an ancient mosaic.[6] Roeg describes the basic premise of the story as principally being that in life "nothing is what it seems",[4] and even decided to have Donald Sutherland's character utter the line—a scene which required fifteen takes.[14]
Communication is a theme that runs through much of Nicolas Roeg's work, and figures heavily in Don't Look Now.[15] This is best exemplified by the blind psychic woman, Heather, who communicates with the dead, but it is presented in other ways: the language barriers are purposefully enhanced by the decision to not include subtitles translating the Italian dialogue into English, so the viewer experiences the same confusion as John.[16] Women are presented as better at communicating than men: besides the clairvoyant being female, it is Laura who stays in regular contact with their son, Johnny;[17] when the Baxters receive a phone call informing them of Johnny's accident at the boarding school, the headmaster's inarticulateness in explaining the situation causes his wife to intercept and explain instead.[11]
Much has been made of the fragmented editing of Don't Look Now, and Nicolas Roeg's work in general. Time is presented as 'fluid', where the past, present and future can all exist in the same timeframe.[10] John's premonitions merge with the present, such as at the start of the film where the mysterious red-coated figure is seemingly depicted in one of his photographic slides, and when he 'sees' Laura on the funeral barge with the sisters and mistakenly believes he is seeing the present, but in fact it is a vision of the future.[12] The most famous use of this fragmented approach to time is during the love scene, in which the scenes of John and Laura having sex are intercut with scenes of them dressing afterwards to go out to dinner.[3][7] After John is attacked by his assailant in the climactic moments, the preceding events depicted during the course of the film are recalled through flashback, which may be perceived as his life flashing before his eyes.[18] At a narrative level the plot of Don't Look Now can be regarded as a self-fulfilling prophecy: it is John's premonitions of his death that set in motion the events leading up to his death.[12] According to the editor of the film, Graeme Clifford, Nicolas Roeg regarded the film as his "exercise in film grammar".[19]
Inspirations[edit]
Don't Look Now is particularly indebted to Alfred Hitchcock, exhibiting several characteristics of the director's work.[9] The aural match cut following Christine's death from Laura's scream to the screech of a drill references a cut in The 39 Steps, when a woman's scream cuts to the whistle of a steam train.[20] When John reports Laura's disappearance to the Italian police he inadvertently becomes a suspect in the murder case they are investigating—an innocent man being wrongly accused and pursued by the authorities is a common Hitchcock trait.[21] The film also takes a Hitchcockian approach to its mise en scène, by manifesting its protagonist's psychology in plot developments: in taking their trip to Venice the Baxters have run away from personal tragedy, and are often physically depicted as running to and from things during their stay in Venice; the labyrinthine geography of Venice causes John to lose his bearings, and he often becomes separated from Laura and is repeatedly shown to be looking for her—both physical realisations of what is going on in his head.[16]
Nicolas Roeg had employed the fractured editing style of Don't Look Now on his previous films, Performance and Walkabout, but it was originated by editor Antony Gibbs on Petulia. Roeg served as the cinematographer on Petulia, which incidentally also starred Julie Christie, and Gibbs went on to edit Performance and Walkabout for Roeg.[22] Roeg's use of colour—especially red—can be traced back to earlier work: both Performance and Walkabout feature scenes where the whole screen turns red, similar in nature to the scene during Christine's drowning when the spilt water on the church slide causes a reaction that makes it—along with the whole screen—turn completely red.[23] The mysterious red-coated figure and its association with death has a direct parallel with an earlier film Roeg worked on as cinematographer, The Masque of the Red Death, which depicted a red clad Grim Reaper character.[22] The fleeting glimpses of the mysterious red-coated figure possibly draw on Proust: in Remembrance of Things Past, while in Venice, the narrator catches sight of a red gown in the distance which brings pack painful memories of his lost love.[7]
Besides Proust, other possible literary influences include Borges and Nietzsche; Pauline Kael in her review comments that "Roeg comes closer to getting Borges on the screen than those who have tried it directly",[24] while Mark Sanderson in his BFI Modern Classics essay on the film, finds parallels with Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil.[12]
Production[edit]
Don't Look Now was produced by Peter Katz through London based Casey Productions and Rome based Eldorado Films.[25] The script based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier was offered to Nicolas Roeg by scriptwriter Allan Scott, who had co-written the screenplay with Chris Bryant,[26] while Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland were cast in the principal roles. Filming began in England in December 1972, breaking off for Christmas, and resuming in January 1973 for seven more weeks in Italy.[27]
Development[edit]
Julie Christie attended a séance as part of her preparation for the role of Laura.
Don't Look Now was to be Nicolas Roeg's third directorial feature following Performance and Walkabout. Although real-life couple Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner were suggested for the parts of Laura and John Baxter, Roeg was eager to cast Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland from the very start. Initially engaged by other projects both actors unexpectedly became available. Christie liked the script and was keen to work with Roeg who had served as cinematographer on Fahrenheit 451, Far from the Madding Crowd and Petulia in which she had starred. Sutherland also wanted to make the film but had some reservations about the depiction of clairvoyance in the script. He felt it was handled too negatively and believed that Don't Look Now should be a more "educative film", and that the "characters should in some way benefit from ESP and not be destroyed by it". Roeg was resistant to any changes and issued Sutherland with an ultimatum.[27]
Roeg wanted Julie Christie to attend a séance prior to filming. Leslie Flint, a direct voice medium based in Notting Hill, invited them to attend a session which he was holding for some American parapsychologists, who were coming over to observe him. Roeg and Christie went along and sat in a circle in the pitch dark and joined hands. Flint instructed his guests to "uncross" their legs, which Roeg subsequently incorporated into the film.[14]
Adelina Poerio was cast as the fleeting red-coated figure after Roeg saw her photo at a casting session in Rome. Standing at only 4'2" tall, she had a career as a singer.[26] Renato Scarpa was cast as Inspector Longhi, despite not being able to speak English and so he had no idea what he was saying in the film.[28]
Filming[edit]
The drowning scene and house exteriors were filmed in Hertfordshire at the home of actor David Tree, who also plays the headmaster at the son's boarding school.[27] Shooting the sequence was particularly problematic: Sharon Williams, who played Christine, became hysterical when submersed in the pond, despite the rehearsals at the swimming pool going well. A farmer on the neighbouring land volunteered his daughter who was an accomplished swimmer, but who refused to be submersed when it came to filming. In the end, the scene was filmed in a water tank using three girls.[26] Nicolas Roeg and editor Graeme Clifford showed the opening sequence to some friends before filming resumed on the Venice segment, and Clifford recalls it making a considerable impression.[19]
The Venice locations included the Hotel Gabrielli Sandwirth—the lobby and exteriors standing in for the film's fictional Europa Hotel, although the Baxters' suite was located at the Bauer Grunwald (which better accommodated the cameras)—and the San Nicolò dei Mendicoli (the Church of St. Nicholas "of the beggars"), located on the outskirts of Venice. Finding an appropriate church proved difficult: after visiting most of the churches in Venice, the Italian location manager suggested constructing one in a warehouse. The discovery of San Nicolò was particularly fortuitous since it was currently being renovated and the scaffolding was already in place, the circumstances lending themselves well to the plot of the film. Roeg decided not to use traditional tourist locations to purposefully avoid a "travel documentary" look. Venice turned out to be a difficult place to film in, mainly due to the tides which caused problems with the continuity and transporting equipment.[29][30]
Filming the scene in which John almost falls to his death while restoring the mosaic in San Nicolò church was also beset by problems, and resulted in Donald Sutherland's life being put in danger. The scene entailed some of the scaffolding collapsing leaving John dangling by a rope, but the stuntman refused to perform the stunt because the insurance was not in order. Sutherland ended up doing it instead, and was attached to a kirby wire as a precaution in case he should fall. Some time after the film had come out, renowned stunt co-ordinator Vic Armstrong commented to Sutherland that the wire was not designed for that purpose, and the twirling around caused by holding on to the rope would have damaged the wire to the extent it would have snapped if Sutherland had let go.[31]
While many of the changes were down to the logistics of filming in Venice, some were for creative reasons, the most prominent being the inclusion of the famous love scene. The scene was in fact an unscripted last minute improvisation by Roeg, who felt that without it there would be too many scenes of the couple arguing.[4] The scene set in the church where Laura lights a candle for Christine was mostly improvised too. Originally intended to show the gulf between John's and Laura's mental states—John's denial and Laura's inability to let go—the script included two pages of dialogue to illustrate John's unease at Laura's marked display of grief. After a break in filming to allow the crew to set up the equipment, Donald Sutherland returned to the set and commented that he did not like the church, to which Julie Christie retorted that he was being "silly", and the church was "beautiful". Roeg felt that the exchange was more true to life in terms of what the characters would actually say to each other, and that the scripted version was "overwritten", so opted to ditch the scripted dialogue and included the real-life exchange instead.[14]
The funeral scene at the end of the film was also played differently from what was originally intended. Julie Christie was supposed to wear a veil to hide away her face, but prior to filming Roeg suggested to Christie that she should play it without the veil and smile throughout the scene. Christie was initially sceptical, but Roeg felt it would not make sense for the character to be heartbroken if she believed her husband and daughter were together in the afterlife.[19]
Scoring[edit]
Pino Donaggio – Don't Look Now
MENU0:00
Sample from "Laura's Theme".
Problems playing this file? See media help.
The score was composed by Pino Donaggio, a native Venetian who was a popular singer at the time (he had a hit with "lo Che Non Vivo" which was covered by Dusty Springfield in 1966 as "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me"); prior to Don't Look Now, Donaggio had never scored a film. Ugo Mariotti, a producer on the film, spotted Donaggio on a Vaporetto on the Grand Canal in Venice, and believing it to be a "sign" contacted him to see if he would be interested in working on the film. Donaggio was reluctant at first because he did not understand why they would be interested in someone who had no experience of scoring films.
Donaggio had no interest in making soundtracks for films at the time, but was introduced to Nicolas Roeg who decided to try him out and asked him to write something for the beginning of the film. Roeg was enthusiastic about the result but the London-based producers were resistant to hiring someone who had no background in films. The film's financiers were pleased with Donaggio's work and overruled the producers. As well as composing the score, Donaggio performed a substantial portion of it himself. The piano pieces were performed by Donaggio, despite the fact that he was not very accomplished at playing the piano. The piano pieces are usually associated with Christine in the film, and Roeg wanted them to have an innocent sound reminiscent of a little girl learning to play the piano. Donaggio claims that since he was not very good at playing the piano, the pieces had an unsure style to them, perfect for the effect they were trying to capture.
The only disagreement over the musical direction of the film was for the score accompanying the love scene. Donaggio composed a grand orchestral piece, but Roeg thought the effect was overkill, and wanted it toned down. In the end the scene just used a combination of the piano, the flute, an acoustic guitar and an acoustic bass guitar. The piano was played by Donaggio again, who also played the flute; in contrast to his skill as a pianist, Donaggio was a renowned flautist, famous for it at the conservatory. Donaggio conceded that the more low-key theme worked better in the sequence and ditched the high strings orchestral piece, reworking it for the funeral scene at the end of the film.
Donaggio won a 'best soundtrack of the year' award for his work on the film, which gave him the confidence to quit his successful singing career and embark on a career scoring films. Donaggio became a regular composer for Brian De Palma films and credits Nicolas Roeg with giving him his first lesson in writing film scores, and expressed a desire to work with him again.[32]
Release[edit]
Sex scene controversy[edit]
File:Don't Look Now love scene .ogg
Sample from the love scene.
Don't Look Now has become famous for a sex scene involving Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland, which caused considerable controversy prior to its release in 1973. British tabloid newspaper, the Daily Mail, observed at the time "one of the frankest love scenes ever to be filmed is likely to plunge lovely Julie Christie into the biggest censorship row since Last Tango in Paris". The scene was unusually graphic for the period, including a rare depiction of cunnilingus in a mainstream film.[3]
Christie commented that "people didn't do scenes like that in those days", and that she found the scenes difficult to film: "There were no available examples, no role models ... I just went blank and Nic [Roeg] shouted instructions." The scene caused problems with censors on both sides of the Atlantic. The American censor advised Nicolas Roeg explicitly, saying, "We cannot see humping. We cannot see the rise and fall between thighs." The scene's much celebrated fragmented style, in which scenes of the couple having sexual intercourse are intercut with scenes of the couple post-coitally getting dressed to go out to dinner, partly came about through Roeg's attempt to accommodate the concerns of the censors: "They scrutinised it and found absolutely nothing they could object to. If someone goes up, you cut and the next time you see them they're in a different position, you obviously fill in the gaps for yourself. But, technically speaking, there was no 'humping' in that scene." In the end, Roeg only cut nine frames from the sequence, and the film was awarded an R rating in the United States. In Britain, the British Board of Film Classification judged the uncut version to be "tasteful and integral to the plot", and a scene in which Donald Sutherland's character can be clearly seen performing oral sex on Christie's character was permitted, but it was still given an X rating—an adults only certificate.[3][33]
The sex scene remained controversial for some years after the film's release. The BBC cut it altogether when Don't Look Now premiered on UK television, causing a flood of complaints from viewers.[14][34] The intimacy of the scene led to rumours that Christie and Sutherland had unsimulated sex which have persisted for years, and that outtakes from the scene were doing the rounds in screening rooms.[9][35][36] Michael Deeley, who oversaw the film's UK distribution, claimed on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs that Warren Beatty had flown to London and demanded that the sex scene—featuring then girlfriend Julie Christie—be cut from the film.[37] The rumours were seemingly confirmed in 2011 by former Variety editor Peter Bart, who was a Paramount executive at the time. In his book, Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex), Bart says he was on set on the day the scene was filmed and could clearly see Sutherland's penis "moving in and out of" Christie. Bart also reiterated Warren Beatty's discontent, noting that Beatty had contacted him to complain about what he perceived to be Roeg's exploitation of Christie, and insisting that he be allowed to help edit the film.[38][39] Sutherland subsequently issued a statement through his publicist stating that the claims were not true, and that Bart did not witness the scene being filmed. Peter Katz, the film's producer, corroborated Sutherland's account that the sex was entirely simulated.[40]
Theatrical releases[edit]
Don't Look Now—marketed as a "psychic thriller"[41]—was released in Britain on 16 October 1973, as the main feature of a double bill.[25] The Wicker Man was its accompanying 'B' feature and—like Don't Look Now—went on to achieve great acclaim.[10] The two films have thematic similarities, and both end with their protagonists being led to preordained fates by a 'child' they believe to be helping.[2] Michael Deeley, who was managing director of British Lion Films at the time of the film's release, claimed that the film's US reception was hurt by Paramount Pictures rushing the film into cinemas too early, due to the unexpected failure of Jonathan Livingston Seagull;[42] despite its mismanaged distribution, Peter Bart—from his time at Paramount—recalls it performing "fairly well" at the box office.[38] The film had recouped most of its expenses before it was even released, with its $1.1 million budget offset by the fee Paramount paid for the US distribution rights.[42]
Don't Look Now was chosen by the British Film Institute in 2000 as one of eight classic films from those that had begun to deteriorate to undergo restoration.[43] On completion of the restoration in 2001, the film was given another theatrical release.[44]
Home media[edit]
Don't Look Now has been released on VHS, DVD and Blu-ray. Extras include an introduction by film journalist Alan Jones, an audio commentary by director Nicolas Roeg, a retrospective documentary featurette ("Looking Back"), an extract from a 1980s documentary about Roeg ("Nothing is as it Seems"), and interviews with Donald Sutherland, composer Pino Donaggio ("Death in Venice"), scriptwriter Allan Scott, cinematographer Anthony Richmond and film director Danny Boyle, as well as a "compressed" version of the film made by Boyle for a BAFTA tribute.[45][46][47]
A new DVD and Blu-ray release with a 4K digital restoration was released in 2015 by The Criterion Collection. In addition to the "Death in Venice" and "Looking Back" featurettes which accompanied earlier editions, there is a conversation between editor Graeme Clifford and film writer Bobbie O’Steen, an essay by film critic David Thomson and a Q&A with Roeg at London’s Ciné Lumière from 2003. Two new documentaries are also included: the first documentary, "Something Interesting", features interviews with Anthony Richmond, Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie and Allan Scott about the making of the film; the second, "Nicolas Roeg: The Enigma of Film", features interviews with Danny Boyle and fellow film-maker Steven Soderbergh discussing Roeg's cinematic style.[48]
Reception[edit]
Critical response and awards[edit]
At the time of its initial release, Don't Look Now was generally well received by critics,[36] although some criticised it for being "arty and mechanical".[35] Jay Cocks for Time, wrote that "Don't Look Now is such a rich, complex and subtle experience that it demands more than one viewing",[49] while Variety commented that the film's visual flourishes made it "much more than merely a well-made psycho-horror thriller".[50] Pauline Kael writing for The New Yorker was more reserved in her praise, considering the film to be "the fanciest, most carefully assembled enigma yet put on the screen" but that there was a "distasteful clamminess about the picture",[24] while Gordon Gow of Films and Filming felt that it fell short of the aspirations of Nicolas Roeg's previous two films, Performance and Walkabout, but it was nevertheless a thriller of some depth.[3] Vincent Canby, reviewer for The New York Times, on the other hand, criticised the film for a lack of suspense which he put down to a twist that comes halfway through rather than at the end, and at which point it "stops being suspenseful and becomes an elegant travelogue that treats us to second-sightseeing in Venice". Canby also suggested that second sight was not convincing on screen, since it appeared simply like flash-forward which is a standard story-telling device in films, and concluded that "Not only do you probably have better things to do, but so, I'm sure, do most of the people connected with the film."[51]
British critics were especially enthusiastic about Nicolas Roeg's direction. In the view of Tom Milne of Monthly Film Bulletin, Roeg's combined work on Performance, Walkabout and Don't Look Now put him "right up at the top as film-maker".[3] George Melly similarly wrote in The Observer that Roeg had joined "that handful of names whose appearance at the end of the credit titles automatically creates a sense of anticipation".[2] Penelope Houston for Sight & Sound also found much to appreciate in Roeg's direction: "Roeg deploys subtle powers of direction and Hitchcockian misdirection."[3] American critics were similarly impressed with Roeg's work on the film. Jay Cocks regarded Don't Look Now to be Roeg's best work by far and that Roeg was one of "those rare talents that can effect a new way of seeing". Cocks also felt that the film was a marked improvement on the novella, noting that a reading "makes one appreciate Roeg and Screenwriters [Allan] Scott and [Chris] Bryant all the more. Film and story share certain basic elements of plot and an ending of cruel surprise. The story is detached, almost cursory. Roeg and his collaborators have constructed an intricate, intense speculation about levels of perception and reality."[49] Roger Ebert in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times commented that Roeg is "a genius at filling his frame with threatening forms and compositions",[41] while Pauline Kael labelled him "chillingly chic" in hers.[24] Even Vincent Canby, whose opinion of the film was negative overall, praised Roeg for being able to "maintain a sense of menace long after the screenplay has any right to expect it".[51]
Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland also received praise for their performances. Variety considered Sutherland to be at his most subdued but also at his most effective, while Christie does her "best work in ages".[50] Cocks felt that thanks to their superb performances the film had a "rigorous psychological truth and an emotional timbre" that most other films in the supernatural genre lacked.[49] Canby considered the "sincerity of the actors" to be one of the better aspects of the film,[51] while Kael found Christie especially suited to the part, observing she has the "anxious face of a modern tragic muse".[52]
The use of Venice locations was highly praised.
Roeg's use of Venice was praised too, with Roger Ebert finding that he "uses Venice as well as she's ever been used in a movie",[41] and Canby also noted Venice is used to great effect: "He gets a great performance from Venice, which is all wintery grays, blues and blacks, the color of the pigeons that are always underfoot."[51] Variety also found much to admire about the editing, writing that it is "careful and painstaking (the classically brilliant and erotic love-making scene is merely one of several examples) and plays a vital role in setting the film's mood".[50]
Daphne du Maurier was pleased with the adaptation of her story, and wrote to Nicolas Roeg to congratulate him for capturing the essence of John and Laura's relationship.[20] The film was not received well by Venetians, particularly the councillors who were afraid it would scare away tourists.[32]
At the 27th British Academy Film Awards, Anthony B. Richmond won for Best Cinematography, and Don't Look Now received further nominations in the Best Film, Direction, Actor, Actress, Sound Track and Film Editing categories.[53] It was also nominated in the Best Motion Picture category at the 1974 Edgar Allan Poe Awards.[54]
Re-evaluation[edit]
The reputation of Don't Look Now has grown since its release and it is now regarded as a key work in horror cinema.[10] It has led to some critics re-evaluating their original opinions of it: Roger Ebert, nearly thirty years after his original review, states that he has come to an "accommodation" with his reservations about what he terms the "admitted weakness of the denouement". Having gone through the film shot by shot, he now considers it a "masterpiece of physical filmmaking, in the way the photography evokes mood and the editing underlines it with uncertainty".[55] It was ranked 127th by Sight & Sound in the 2012 edition of their prestigious decennial critics poll.[56]
Don't Look Now is also very well regarded by other industry professionals, placing in the top 100 on Sight & Sound's directors poll, run in tandem with their critics poll.[56] A survey of 1000 people who work across the film and television industry, undertaken by the British Film Institute in 1999, saw the film ranked eighth on their list of top 100 British films of the 20th century.[57] It also topped a similar list organised by Time Out London in 2011, in which 150 film industry professionals were polled.[58] In 2012 Time Out also undertook a poll of the horror industry, in which more than 100 professionals who work within or have connections to the genre selected their favourite horror films, which saw Don't Look Now finish in twelfth position.[59]
Influence[edit]
I just thought that it was a beautifully shot, really adult look at real-life horror stories, and there was a great degree of sexuality in it that, as a young kid, when I saw it, I remember I was very startled by. It felt very brave to me, and I think it still holds up. Nick Roeg is a brilliant director.
Ryan Murphy on Don't Look Now.[60]
Don't Look Now has been much admired by and an influence on subsequent filmmakers. Danny Boyle cites Nicolas Roeg as a key influence on his work and counts it amongst his favourite films.[61][62] Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, and Jeremy Dyson drew upon Don't Look Now considerably for their television series The League of Gentlemen; Pemberton ranks it among the top three British horror films of the 1960s and 1970s, and says that he wants things he has written to make audiences feel the way he felt when he watched the The Wicker Man and Don't Look Now.[63][64][65] Similarly, Ryan Murphy considers his TV series American Horror Story to be a throwback to '60s and '70s psychological horror, citing Don't Look Now, Rosemary's Baby and The Shining as particular examples.[66] Thematic and narrative similarities with Lars von Trier's Antichrist have also been observed,[67] with Antichrist's cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, commenting that he has watched Don't Look Now more times than any other film.[68] Fabrice Du Welz, whose film Vinyan has often been compared to Don't Look Now, has stated that it is a film he is "obsessed with", and one of his favourites,[69] while Lynne Ramsay cited it as an influence on We Need to Talk about Kevin, which incidentally is also produced by Roeg's son, Luc.[70] Ami Canaan Mann has also acknowledged she was influenced by atmospheric thrillers such as Picnic at Hanging Rock and Don't Look Now while directing her debut feature, Texas Killing Fields.[71]
Its imagery has been directly referenced in several works. The 2006 James Bond film, Casino Royale contains a small homage where James Bond pursues a female character through Venice, catching glimpses of her through the crowds wearing a red dress.[72] The Bruges set thriller, In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell, includes a number of explicit references;[73] director Martin McDonagh said that the "Venice of Don't Look Now" was the template for the depiction of Bruges in his film,[74] and the film includes numerous thematic similarities, including one character stating that the film she is working on is a "pastiche of Don't Look Now". Flatliners, a 1990 supernatural thriller directed by Joel Schumacher, also draws explicitly on the red-coated childlike figure by having a character terrorised by a child wearing a red coat;[75] coincidentally, the character who is being tormented is played by Kiefer Sutherland, Donald Sutherland's son. In the 2007 stage play of Don't Look Now, written by Nell Leyshon and directed by Lucy Bailey, the play made a conscious effort to bypass the film and be a faithful adaptation of du Maurier's short story, but it did however retain the iconic red mac from the film as worn by the elusive childlike figure.[76][77]
Its influence is less obvious but still apparent in Out of Sight, a 1998 film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The famous intercutting technique used in the sex scene was used to similar effect in a sex scene featuring George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez.[9][78] The film's imagery and stylistic techniques have served as an inspiration to films such as Schindler's List directed by Steven Spielberg,[79] Memento by Christopher Nolan,[80][81][82] The Dark by John Fawcett,[83] Frozen by Juliet McKoen,[84] Submarine by Richard Ayoade,[85] and Snow White and the Huntsman by Rupert Sanders.[86] David Cronenberg regards it as the most frightening film he has seen,[87] and its influence has been detected on Cronenberg's The Brood.[88]
Nicolas Roeg has never been slow to draw upon the world of pop music for his work, casting Mick Jagger in Performance, David Bowie in The Man Who Fell to Earth and Art Garfunkel in Bad Timing, and in turn his films have served as inspiration for musicians. Big Audio Dynamite wrote a tribute song to Roeg, called "E=MC2", which included lyrical references to Don't Look Now—among Roeg's other films—along with clips from it in the video, directed by Luc Roeg,[89] while Sophie Ellis-Bextor performed a "pop synth homage" to Don't Look Now with her song, "Catch You".[90]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ ""Don't Look Now" (1973)". Film & TV Database. London: British Film Institute. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
^ Jump up to: a b c French, Philip (9 April 2006). "The sexual power and terror that produced a classic". The Observer. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g Sanderson 1996, pp. 21–23.
^ Jump up to: a b c O'Hagan, Sean (9 April 2006). "The sexual power and terror that produced a classic". The Observer. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, pp. 30, 45 & 59.
^ Jump up to: a b c Sanderson 1996, pp. 42–44.
^ Jump up to: a b c Bradshaw, Peter (18 January 2011). "Don't Look Now and Roeg's red coat". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, pp. 10–11, 60.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Morrison, Alan (September 2006). "At Home: Masterpiece #36 – Don't Look Now". Empire (207): 160–161. UPC 9770957494184.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Jones, Alan (2006). Don't Look Now: An Introduction by Alan Jones. In: Don't Look Now (Special Edition) (DVD).
^ Jump up to: a b Sanderson 1996, p. 48.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Sanderson 1996, pp. 61–62.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, p. 16.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Sanderson 1996, pp. 76–78.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, p. 12.
^ Jump up to: a b Sanderson 1996, pp. 25–27.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, p. 47.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, pp. 64–70.
^ Jump up to: a b c Gregory, David (2002). Don't Look Now: Looking Back. In: Don't Look Now (Special Edition) (DVD).
^ Jump up to: a b Sanderson 1996, pp. 14–15.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, p. 30.
^ Jump up to: a b Sinyard, Neil. "Roeg, Nicolas (1928–)". Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, pp. 31–32.
^ Jump up to: a b c Kael, Pauline (1973). "Excerpt from Don't Look Now review". Movie Film Review. Chris Tookey. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Sanderson 1996, p. 81.
^ Jump up to: a b c Sanderson 1996, pp. 74–75.
^ Jump up to: a b c Sanderson 1996, pp. 17–19.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, p. 49.
Jump up ^ Sanderson 1996, pp. 19, 71–73.
Jump up ^ Reeves, Tony (11 August 2011). "Don't Look Now film locations". The Worldwide Guide To Movie Locations. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
Jump up ^ Mark Cousins (22 March 2001). "Donald Sutherland". Scene by Scene. 15 minutes in. BBC. BBC Two.
^ Jump up to: a b Gregory, David (2006). Death in Venice. In: Don't Look Now (Special Edition) (DVD).
Jump up ^ "Nicolas Roeg on Don't Look Now". Film4. Archived from the original on 15 March 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Roeg, Nicolas (3 February 2008). "Sex had to be on the menu". The Observer. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Guthmann, Edward (1 January 1999). "Labyrinthine `Look' Is Back – Roeg's '73 thriller reprised at Castro". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Billson, Anne (22 October 2010). "Don't Look Now: No 3 best horror film of all time". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Clinton, Jane (14 December 2008). "Day Beatty tried to ban sex scene....". Daily Express. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Bart 2011, pp. 92–95.
Jump up ^ Fernandez, Jay A. (22 March 2011). "Forthcoming Peter Bart Book Answers Long-Simmering Question About Julie Christie Sex Scene". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
Jump up ^ Fernandez, Jay A. (24 March 2011). "Donald Sutherland Unequivocally Denies 'Don't Look Now' Sex (Again)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c Ebert, Roger (20 December 1973). "Don't Look Now". rogerebert.com (Chicago Sun-Times). Retrieved 20 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b Deeley 2009, pp. 99–104.
Jump up ^ "More Breakfast at Tiffany's". BBC News (BBC). 20 September 2000. Retrieved 20 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "A vision of hell and high water". The Observer. 25 March 2001. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ van Beek, Anton. "Don't Look Now – Blu-ray". Home Cinema Choice. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
Jump up ^ "Don't Look Now, Bluray" (Press release). Optimum Releasing. 4 July 2011. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
Jump up ^ "Don't Look Now (Special Edition)". StudioCanal UK. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
Jump up ^ "Don't Look Now (1973) – The Criterion Collection" (Press release). The Criterion Collection. 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b c Cocks, Jay (10 December 1973). "Cinema: Second Sight". Time. Archived from the original on 5 September 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c Variety staff (31 December 1973). "Don't Look Now". Variety. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b c d Canby, Vincent (10 December 1973). "Don't Look Now (1973) – Film:'Don't Look Now,' a Horror Tale:Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie in Leads The Cast Suspense Yarn Turns Into a Travelogue". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Addiego, Walter (6 February 1998). "Basking in Christie's afterglow". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "BAFTA Awards Search – Don't Look Now". British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
Jump up ^ "Edgars Database" (Winners and nominees search on title: Don't Look Now). TheEdgars.com. Mystery Writers of America. Retrieved 21 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (13 October 2002). "Don't Look Now (1974)". rogerebert.com (Chicago Sun-Times). Retrieved 22 February 2011.
^ Jump up to: a b "The Greatest Films Poll: Don't Look Now". British Film Institute. 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
Jump up ^ "The BFI 100: 1–10". London: British Film Institute. 1999. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "100 best British films: the full list". Time Out (London). 9 February 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "The 100 best horror films: the full list – 20–1". Time Out (London). April 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
Jump up ^ Radish, Christina (27 August 2011). "Co-Creator Ryan Murphy Interview: American Horror Story". Collider.com. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Jones, Alice (7 May 2009). "Film favourites: Politicians to pop stars reveal the movies that changed their life". The Independent. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ "The Danny Boyle Webchat Transcript". Empire. 5 April 2007. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Walsh, John (29 September 2005). "The League of Gentlemen: A league of their own". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 February 2012. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ McLean, Gareth (10 February 2001). "Odd men out". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Cavendish, Dominic (27 May 2005). "Stepping into the big League". The Telegraph. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Itzkoff, Dave (2 October 2011). "Don’t Stop Screaming: The ‘Glee’ Guys Introduce Their ‘American Horror Story’". NYTimes.com. Retrieved 14 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Emerson, Jim (5 October 2009). "VIFF: Antichrist: A pew in satan's church". Jim Emerson's scanners: blog (Chicago Sun-Times). Retrieved 23 June 2011.
Jump up ^ "Stills life: Anthony Dod Mantle". The Guardian. 30 June 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
Jump up ^ Carnevale, Rob. "Vinyan – Fabrice du Welz interview". IndieLondon. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
Jump up ^ Thorpe, Vanessa (14 May 2011). "Cannes sensation Lynne Ramsay finds inspiration in her own family drama". The Observer. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
Jump up ^ Farber, Stephen (13 October 2011). "Killing a Hollywood Legacy". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
Jump up ^ ""Casino Royale" production notes" (PDF). Sony Pictures Entertainment. 2006. p. 18. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 April 2012.
Jump up ^ Horne, Philip (26 August 2008). "See Naples and die. Literally". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Hammond, Wally (2008). "Martin McDonagh on 'In Bruges'". Time Out (London). Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ James, Caryn (10 August 1990). "Flatliners (1990) Review/Film; Young Doctors Explore the Boundary Between Life and Death". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Walker, Lynne (2 March 2007). "Don't Look Now, Lyceum, Sheffield". The Independent. Archived from the original on 28 March 2011. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
Jump up ^ Cavendish, Dominic (16 March 2007). "Haunted by a spirit from the past". The Telegraph. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
Jump up ^ Clarke, Roger (1 December 2006). "Story of the Scene: 'Don't Look Now' Nicolas Roeg (1973)". The Independent. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ O'Sullivan, Tom (6 February 2000). "Beg, borrow or steal". The Observer. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Mottram 2011, (online copy, p. 172, at Google Books).
Jump up ^ Kania 2009, p. 133.
Jump up ^ Gilbey, Ryan (10 March 2011). "Nicolas Roeg: 'I don't want to be ahead of my time'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
Jump up ^ French, Philip (9 April 2006). "The Dark". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ French, Philip (29 January 2006). "Frozen". The Observer. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Bradshaw, Peter (17 March 2011). "Submarine – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
Jump up ^ Dodes, Rachel (24 May 2012). "Snow White and The 'Sizzle Reel'". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
Jump up ^ Cronenberg, David (14 September 2014). David Cronenberg: ‘My imagination is not a place of horror’. The Observer. Interview with Tim Lewis. Retrieved 14 September 2014.
Jump up ^ Ebert, Roger (5 June 1979). "The Brood".rogerebert.com (Chicago Sun-Times). Retrieved 20 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Wood, Jason (3 June 2005). "His brilliant career". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Jump up ^ Eyre, Hermione (28 April 2007). "Ice queen: Sophie Ellis-Bextor, pop's coolest diva". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 October 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
Bibliography[edit]
Don't Look Now (Special Edition) (DVD). United Kingdom: Optimum Releasing. 2006. UPC 5060034577164.
Bart, Peter (2011). Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob, (and Sex). Weinstein Books. ISBN 978-1-60286-139-8.
Deeley, Michael (2009). Blade Runners, Deer Hunters and Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies. Pegasus Books.
Kania, Andrew (2009). Memento. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77474-1.
Mottram, James (2011). The Making of Memento. Faber and Faber. ISBN 9780571279517.
Sanderson, Mark (1996). Don't Look Now. London: British Film Institute. ISBN 0-85170-572-3.
Scott, Allan; Bryant, Chris (1997) [1973 screenplay]. Don't Look Now. Sight & Sound. ASIN B000P5ZGC2.
External links[edit]
Don't Look Now at the Internet Movie Database
Don't Look Now at BFI Screenonline
Nicolas Roeg discusses Don't Look Now at The Culture Show
John Landis on "Don't Look Now" at Trailers From Hell
Moviedrome introduction on YouTube
[hide] v t e
Films directed by Nicolas Roeg
Performance (1970) Walkabout (1971) Glastonbury Fayre (1972) Don't Look Now (1973) The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976) Bad Timing (1980) Eureka (1983) Insignificance (1985) Aria (1987, segment: "Un ballo in maschera") Castaway (1986) Track 29 (1988) The Witches (1990) Cold Heaven (1991) Heart of Darkness (1993) Two Deaths (1995) Full Body Massage (1995) Samson and Delilah (1996) Puffball (2007)
Authority control
WorldCat Identities VIAF: 208717245 GND: 4643163-9
Categories: 1973 films1970s psychological thriller films1973 horror filmsFilms directed by Nicolas RoegBritish filmsItalian filmsBritish horror filmsBritish thriller filmsItalian horror filmsItalian thriller filmsSupernatural thriller filmsSupernatural horror filmsSerial killer filmsEnglish-language filmsItalian-language filmsFilms set in VeniceFilms set in HertfordshireAdaptations of works by Daphne du MaurierFilms based on short fictionFilm scores by Pino Donaggio
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CHABANIAN, ARSÈNE
(Sunienc/Erzurum 1864-1949 Paris)
https://www.google.de/search?client=opera&q=chabanian+arsene&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#q=chabanian+
(Sunienc/Erzurum 1864-1949 Paris)
https://www.google.de/search?client=opera&q=chabanian+arsene&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#q=chabanian+
Edit
DAPHNE du MAURIER Don't look Now
Erzählung: Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen
Film nach
Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen
Filmdaten
Deutscher Titel Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen
Originaltitel Don’t Look Now
Produktionsland Italien, Großbritannien
Originalsprache Englisch, Italienisch
Erscheinungsjahr 1973
Länge 105 Minuten
Altersfreigabe FSK 16
Stab
Regie Nicolas Roeg
Drehbuch Allan Scott
Chris Bryant
Produktion Peter Katz
Musik Pino Donaggio
Kamera Anthony B. Richmond
Schnitt Graeme Clifford
Besetzung
Julie Christie: Laura Baxter
Donald Sutherland: John Baxter
Hilary Mason: Heather
Clelia Matania: Wendy
Massimo Serato: Bischof Barbarrigo
Leopoldo Trieste: Hoteldirektor
Renato Scarpa: Inspektor
Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen (Originaltitel: Don’t Look Now) ist ein britisch-italienischer Horrorfilm des britischen Regisseurs Nicolas Roeg aus dem Jahr 1973. Der in Venedig spielende Film basiert auf einer Erzählung von Daphne du Maurier.[1] Er hatte in den Vereinigten Staaten am 9. Dezember 1973 Premiere, die deutsche Erstaufführung fand am 29. August 1974 statt.
Inhaltsverzeichnis [Verbergen]
1 Handlung
2 Thema
3 Rezeption
4 Auszeichnungen
5 Literatur
6 Weblinks
7 Einzelnachweise
Handlung[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Der Restaurator John Baxter und seine Ehefrau Laura leben auf dem Land in England. Beim Spielen ertrinkt ihre kleine Tochter Christine − die einen roten Regenmantel trägt − in einem Teich im Garten. John befindet sich zu diesem Zeitpunkt im Haus und sieht sich Dias einer Kirche an, die er bald in Venedig restaurieren soll. Als ein Glas umfällt und sich sein Inhalt auf eines der Dias ergießt, bildet sich darauf eine rote Farbspur und läuft über das ganze Bild. Dies lässt in dem schon zuvor durch die Atmosphäre irritierten John eine Ahnung aufsteigen; er stürzt hinaus zum Teich, kommt jedoch zu spät, um das Leben seiner Tochter zu retten.
Später reist das Ehepaar nach Venedig, wo John die Restaurierung der Kirche San Nicolò dei Mendicoli leitet, der Sohn bleibt in England auf einer Internatsschule. In einem Restaurant lernen sie die Schwestern Wendy und Heather kennen. Heather ist blind und behauptet von sich, über das zweite Gesicht zu verfügen. Deswegen habe sie mit der Seele der verstorbenen Tochter des Ehepaares eine Verbindung und könne berichten, dass sie um Laura herum und glücklich sei. Dies hilft Laura in der Trauer über den Verlust des Kindes. Heather vermutet, dass auch John die Begabung der Vorhersehung habe. Während Laura weiterhin den Kontakt zu den Frauen sucht, steht John ihnen skeptisch gegenüber und lehnt die Parapsychologie ab. Beim Besuch Lauras bei den beiden Schwestern verfällt Heather in eine Trance. Aus diesem Zustand heraus prophezeit sie ein Unglück, sollte sich John weiterhin in Venedig aufhalten.
Als der Sohn der Baxters im Internat einen Unfall erleidet, reist Laura am nächsten Morgen zu ihm. Am selben Tag sieht John in Venedig auf dem Kanal Laura in Trauerkleidung und in Begleitung der Schwestern auf einer Trauergondel vorüberfahren. Er beginnt daraufhin, seine Frau, die ja eigentlich auf dem Weg nach England sein sollte, in Venedig zu suchen. Beunruhigt durch eine ungeklärte Mordserie in Venedig und den Verdacht, die beiden Frauen hätten Laura entführt, geht er schließlich zur Polizei. Obwohl man ihn dort zuerst nicht allzu ernst nimmt – eher macht er sich selbst im Hinblick auf die ungeklärten Morde verdächtig –, bringt man doch die beiden Schwestern zur Befragung auf das Polizeirevier. Schließlich klärt sich Johns Irrtum durch ein Telefonat mit Laura auf. Sie ist in England und wohlauf. Auf dem Weg zum Hotel sieht er an einem Kanal eine kleine Gestalt in einem kurzen roten Mantel. Er folgt dieser Gestalt durch die verworrenen Gassen, während Laura, die bereits auf dem Rückweg nach Venedig ist, einer Vision der entsetzten Heather folgend, die John in größter Gefahr sieht, wiederum ins Dunkel läuft und nach ihrem Ehemann sucht.
Schließlich gelingt es John, die Gestalt im roten Mantel in einem verlassenen Palazzo Venedigs einzuholen. Sie dreht sich um, zeigt ihr Gesicht – es ist in der Tat eine kleinwüchsige alte Frau – und durchtrennt Johns Halsschlagader mit einem einzigen Hieb eines Hackmessers.[1] Während John verblutet, sieht er Bilder und Geräusche aus Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft auf sich einströmen. Im Todeskampf erkennt er, dass er eine Vorahnung seines herannahenden eigenen Todes gehabt hatte.
Thema[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Werner Faulstich deutet das Thema des Films wie folgt: „Das zentrale Thema des Films ist ‚Sehen‘, und zwar das Sehen einer anderen Dimension, welche die sichtbare Welt transzendiert. Der Titel Don’t Look Now spielt mit dieser zweifachen Bedeutung des Sehens. Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen ist also ebenfalls ein religiöser Film“ und weiter: „Ihr [Lauras] abschließendes selbstbewusstes, in sich selbst gründendes Lächeln erklärt sich daraus, dass sie weiß, dass Tochter und Mann zwar tot sind, aber in einer anderen Dimension, gleichsam hinter der Glasscheibe, weiterleben.“[2]
Rezeption[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Bei seiner Veröffentlichung sorgte der Film für eine Kontroverse:[1] Man vermutete, die Liebesszene zwischen Christie und Sutherland sei nicht gespielt gewesen. Die Szene war ursprünglich nicht im Drehbuch enthalten. Regisseur Roeg schuf mit ihr ein Gegengewicht zum vorausgegangenen Streit zwischen dem Paar. Atypisch dabei ist, wie der Akt und das nachfolgende Anziehen ineinander montiert wurden. Die fragliche Szene wurde mehrmals gekürzt, damit der Film in den Vereinigten Staaten die Bewertung R (Restricted – Children Under 17 Require Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian) erhielt.
Fünfundzwanzig Jahre später bezog sich Steven Soderbergh in seinem Spielfilm Out of Sight auf diese Szene. Wiederum acht Jahre später wurde im 21. James-Bond-Film Casino Royale auf die Szene angespielt, in der John seine vermeintliche, mit rotem Regenmantel bekleidete Tochter durch Venedig verfolgt. Martin McDonaghs Film Brügge sehen… und sterben? enthält zahlreiche Anspielungen auf Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen.
Bei der alle zehn Jahre vom britischen Filmmagazin Sight & Sound durchgeführten Umfrage nach den besten Filmen aller Zeiten belegte Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen im Jahr 2012 bei den Regisseuren Platz 91 und bei den Filmkritikern Platz 137.[3]
Auszeichnungen[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Britischer Filmpreis 1974
Beste Kamera
nominiert:
Bester Darsteller: Donald Sutherland
Beste Darstellerin: Julie Christie
Beste Regie: Nicolas Roeg
Bester Film
Bester Schnitt: Graeme Clifford
Bester Soundtrack
Edgar Allan Poe Award 1974
nominiert:
Bester Film
Golden Scroll 1975
nominiert:
Bester Horrorfilm
Das British Film Institute wählte Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen im Jahre 1999 auf Platz 8 der besten britischen Filme aller Zeiten.
Literatur[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Daphne du Maurier: Don’t Look Now. In: Daphne du Maurier: Not After Midnight. Sammlung von Kurzgeschichten. Gollancz, London 1971
Deutsche Ausgabe: Dreh dich nicht um. In: Daphne du Maurier: Ein Grenzfall. Erzählungen. Büchergilde Gutenberg, Frankfurt am Main, Olten, Wien 1982, ISBN 3-7632-2729-6
Andreas Blödorn: Verweissystem Farbe. Semiotisierung und Referentialisierung von ‚Sehen‘ und ‚Erkennen‘ am Beispiel von Nicolas Roegs Don’t Look Now (1973). In: Zeitschrift für Semiotik 30. 3–4 (2008), S. 321–353
Steven Jay Schneider: Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen. Don’t Look Now (1973). In: Steven Jay Schneider (Hrsg.): 1001 Filme. Edition Olms, Zürich 2004, ISBN 3-283-00497-8, S. 574
Weblinks[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen in der Internet Movie Database (englisch)
Sammlung von Kritiken zu Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen bei Rotten Tomatoes (englisch)
Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen in der Deutschen Synchronkartei
Ulrich Behrens: Rezension in der Filmzentrale
Björn Last: Rezension in der Filmzentrale
Katharina Stumm: Kurzkritik auf Critic.de
Drehorte in Venedig: [1] und [2]
Einzelnachweise[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
↑ Hochspringen nach: a b c Steven Jay Schneider (Hrsg.): 1001 Filme. Edition Olms, Zürich 2004, S. 574.
Hochspringen ↑ Werner Faulstich: Grundkurs Filmanalyse. Fink, München 2002, S. 173−174.
Hochspringen ↑ Don't Look Now. In: The Greatest Films Poll. BFI, abgerufen am 27. Juli 2015 (englisch).
Einklappen
Filme von Nicolas Roeg
Performance | Walkabout | Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen | Der Mann, der vom Himmel fiel | Black out – Anatomie einer Leidenschaft | Eureka | Insignificance – Die verflixte Nacht | Castaway – Die Insel | Aria (Episode: Un ballo in maschera) | Track 29 – Ein gefährliches Spiel | Süßer Vogel Jugend | Hexen hexen | Kalter Himmel | Heart of Darkness | Two Deaths | Full Body Massage | Die Bibel – Samson und Delila | The Sound Of Claudia Schiffer | Puffball
Normdaten (Werk): GND: 4643163-9 | VIAF: 208717245
Kategorien: Filmtitel 1973Britischer FilmItalienischer FilmHorrorfilmFilmdramaThrillerDaphne-du-Maurier-Verfilmung
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Erzählung: Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen
Film nach
Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen
Filmdaten
Deutscher Titel Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen
Originaltitel Don’t Look Now
Produktionsland Italien, Großbritannien
Originalsprache Englisch, Italienisch
Erscheinungsjahr 1973
Länge 105 Minuten
Altersfreigabe FSK 16
Stab
Regie Nicolas Roeg
Drehbuch Allan Scott
Chris Bryant
Produktion Peter Katz
Musik Pino Donaggio
Kamera Anthony B. Richmond
Schnitt Graeme Clifford
Besetzung
Julie Christie: Laura Baxter
Donald Sutherland: John Baxter
Hilary Mason: Heather
Clelia Matania: Wendy
Massimo Serato: Bischof Barbarrigo
Leopoldo Trieste: Hoteldirektor
Renato Scarpa: Inspektor
Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen (Originaltitel: Don’t Look Now) ist ein britisch-italienischer Horrorfilm des britischen Regisseurs Nicolas Roeg aus dem Jahr 1973. Der in Venedig spielende Film basiert auf einer Erzählung von Daphne du Maurier.[1] Er hatte in den Vereinigten Staaten am 9. Dezember 1973 Premiere, die deutsche Erstaufführung fand am 29. August 1974 statt.
Inhaltsverzeichnis [Verbergen]
1 Handlung
2 Thema
3 Rezeption
4 Auszeichnungen
5 Literatur
6 Weblinks
7 Einzelnachweise
Handlung[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Der Restaurator John Baxter und seine Ehefrau Laura leben auf dem Land in England. Beim Spielen ertrinkt ihre kleine Tochter Christine − die einen roten Regenmantel trägt − in einem Teich im Garten. John befindet sich zu diesem Zeitpunkt im Haus und sieht sich Dias einer Kirche an, die er bald in Venedig restaurieren soll. Als ein Glas umfällt und sich sein Inhalt auf eines der Dias ergießt, bildet sich darauf eine rote Farbspur und läuft über das ganze Bild. Dies lässt in dem schon zuvor durch die Atmosphäre irritierten John eine Ahnung aufsteigen; er stürzt hinaus zum Teich, kommt jedoch zu spät, um das Leben seiner Tochter zu retten.
Später reist das Ehepaar nach Venedig, wo John die Restaurierung der Kirche San Nicolò dei Mendicoli leitet, der Sohn bleibt in England auf einer Internatsschule. In einem Restaurant lernen sie die Schwestern Wendy und Heather kennen. Heather ist blind und behauptet von sich, über das zweite Gesicht zu verfügen. Deswegen habe sie mit der Seele der verstorbenen Tochter des Ehepaares eine Verbindung und könne berichten, dass sie um Laura herum und glücklich sei. Dies hilft Laura in der Trauer über den Verlust des Kindes. Heather vermutet, dass auch John die Begabung der Vorhersehung habe. Während Laura weiterhin den Kontakt zu den Frauen sucht, steht John ihnen skeptisch gegenüber und lehnt die Parapsychologie ab. Beim Besuch Lauras bei den beiden Schwestern verfällt Heather in eine Trance. Aus diesem Zustand heraus prophezeit sie ein Unglück, sollte sich John weiterhin in Venedig aufhalten.
Als der Sohn der Baxters im Internat einen Unfall erleidet, reist Laura am nächsten Morgen zu ihm. Am selben Tag sieht John in Venedig auf dem Kanal Laura in Trauerkleidung und in Begleitung der Schwestern auf einer Trauergondel vorüberfahren. Er beginnt daraufhin, seine Frau, die ja eigentlich auf dem Weg nach England sein sollte, in Venedig zu suchen. Beunruhigt durch eine ungeklärte Mordserie in Venedig und den Verdacht, die beiden Frauen hätten Laura entführt, geht er schließlich zur Polizei. Obwohl man ihn dort zuerst nicht allzu ernst nimmt – eher macht er sich selbst im Hinblick auf die ungeklärten Morde verdächtig –, bringt man doch die beiden Schwestern zur Befragung auf das Polizeirevier. Schließlich klärt sich Johns Irrtum durch ein Telefonat mit Laura auf. Sie ist in England und wohlauf. Auf dem Weg zum Hotel sieht er an einem Kanal eine kleine Gestalt in einem kurzen roten Mantel. Er folgt dieser Gestalt durch die verworrenen Gassen, während Laura, die bereits auf dem Rückweg nach Venedig ist, einer Vision der entsetzten Heather folgend, die John in größter Gefahr sieht, wiederum ins Dunkel läuft und nach ihrem Ehemann sucht.
Schließlich gelingt es John, die Gestalt im roten Mantel in einem verlassenen Palazzo Venedigs einzuholen. Sie dreht sich um, zeigt ihr Gesicht – es ist in der Tat eine kleinwüchsige alte Frau – und durchtrennt Johns Halsschlagader mit einem einzigen Hieb eines Hackmessers.[1] Während John verblutet, sieht er Bilder und Geräusche aus Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft auf sich einströmen. Im Todeskampf erkennt er, dass er eine Vorahnung seines herannahenden eigenen Todes gehabt hatte.
Thema[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Werner Faulstich deutet das Thema des Films wie folgt: „Das zentrale Thema des Films ist ‚Sehen‘, und zwar das Sehen einer anderen Dimension, welche die sichtbare Welt transzendiert. Der Titel Don’t Look Now spielt mit dieser zweifachen Bedeutung des Sehens. Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen ist also ebenfalls ein religiöser Film“ und weiter: „Ihr [Lauras] abschließendes selbstbewusstes, in sich selbst gründendes Lächeln erklärt sich daraus, dass sie weiß, dass Tochter und Mann zwar tot sind, aber in einer anderen Dimension, gleichsam hinter der Glasscheibe, weiterleben.“[2]
Rezeption[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Bei seiner Veröffentlichung sorgte der Film für eine Kontroverse:[1] Man vermutete, die Liebesszene zwischen Christie und Sutherland sei nicht gespielt gewesen. Die Szene war ursprünglich nicht im Drehbuch enthalten. Regisseur Roeg schuf mit ihr ein Gegengewicht zum vorausgegangenen Streit zwischen dem Paar. Atypisch dabei ist, wie der Akt und das nachfolgende Anziehen ineinander montiert wurden. Die fragliche Szene wurde mehrmals gekürzt, damit der Film in den Vereinigten Staaten die Bewertung R (Restricted – Children Under 17 Require Accompanying Parent or Adult Guardian) erhielt.
Fünfundzwanzig Jahre später bezog sich Steven Soderbergh in seinem Spielfilm Out of Sight auf diese Szene. Wiederum acht Jahre später wurde im 21. James-Bond-Film Casino Royale auf die Szene angespielt, in der John seine vermeintliche, mit rotem Regenmantel bekleidete Tochter durch Venedig verfolgt. Martin McDonaghs Film Brügge sehen… und sterben? enthält zahlreiche Anspielungen auf Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen.
Bei der alle zehn Jahre vom britischen Filmmagazin Sight & Sound durchgeführten Umfrage nach den besten Filmen aller Zeiten belegte Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen im Jahr 2012 bei den Regisseuren Platz 91 und bei den Filmkritikern Platz 137.[3]
Auszeichnungen[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Britischer Filmpreis 1974
Beste Kamera
nominiert:
Bester Darsteller: Donald Sutherland
Beste Darstellerin: Julie Christie
Beste Regie: Nicolas Roeg
Bester Film
Bester Schnitt: Graeme Clifford
Bester Soundtrack
Edgar Allan Poe Award 1974
nominiert:
Bester Film
Golden Scroll 1975
nominiert:
Bester Horrorfilm
Das British Film Institute wählte Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen im Jahre 1999 auf Platz 8 der besten britischen Filme aller Zeiten.
Literatur[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Daphne du Maurier: Don’t Look Now. In: Daphne du Maurier: Not After Midnight. Sammlung von Kurzgeschichten. Gollancz, London 1971
Deutsche Ausgabe: Dreh dich nicht um. In: Daphne du Maurier: Ein Grenzfall. Erzählungen. Büchergilde Gutenberg, Frankfurt am Main, Olten, Wien 1982, ISBN 3-7632-2729-6
Andreas Blödorn: Verweissystem Farbe. Semiotisierung und Referentialisierung von ‚Sehen‘ und ‚Erkennen‘ am Beispiel von Nicolas Roegs Don’t Look Now (1973). In: Zeitschrift für Semiotik 30. 3–4 (2008), S. 321–353
Steven Jay Schneider: Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen. Don’t Look Now (1973). In: Steven Jay Schneider (Hrsg.): 1001 Filme. Edition Olms, Zürich 2004, ISBN 3-283-00497-8, S. 574
Weblinks[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen in der Internet Movie Database (englisch)
Sammlung von Kritiken zu Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen bei Rotten Tomatoes (englisch)
Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen in der Deutschen Synchronkartei
Ulrich Behrens: Rezension in der Filmzentrale
Björn Last: Rezension in der Filmzentrale
Katharina Stumm: Kurzkritik auf Critic.de
Drehorte in Venedig: [1] und [2]
Einzelnachweise[Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten]
↑ Hochspringen nach: a b c Steven Jay Schneider (Hrsg.): 1001 Filme. Edition Olms, Zürich 2004, S. 574.
Hochspringen ↑ Werner Faulstich: Grundkurs Filmanalyse. Fink, München 2002, S. 173−174.
Hochspringen ↑ Don't Look Now. In: The Greatest Films Poll. BFI, abgerufen am 27. Juli 2015 (englisch).
Einklappen
Filme von Nicolas Roeg
Performance | Walkabout | Wenn die Gondeln Trauer tragen | Der Mann, der vom Himmel fiel | Black out – Anatomie einer Leidenschaft | Eureka | Insignificance – Die verflixte Nacht | Castaway – Die Insel | Aria (Episode: Un ballo in maschera) | Track 29 – Ein gefährliches Spiel | Süßer Vogel Jugend | Hexen hexen | Kalter Himmel | Heart of Darkness | Two Deaths | Full Body Massage | Die Bibel – Samson und Delila | The Sound Of Claudia Schiffer | Puffball
Normdaten (Werk): GND: 4643163-9 | VIAF: 208717245
Kategorien: Filmtitel 1973Britischer FilmItalienischer FilmHorrorfilmFilmdramaThrillerDaphne-du-Maurier-Verfilmung
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1747-1825
&
ISABELLA ALBRIZZI
VENEZIA
DENON (1747-1825)
Madame Vigée-Lebrun peignant le portrait de Isabella Teotochi Marin
A Woman painting a portrait of Another Woman
Eau-forte.Etching.Radierung
165x146 L.
The Illustrated Bartsch 121, Part 1 Vivant Denon Etchings TIB No.44
Catalogue de la Chalcographie du Louvre Estampes par le Citoyen Denon CCL No.116
cf. SAUR AKL & SAUR BBI, Thieme-Becker, Nagler, Le Blanc, Portalis-Béraldi
cf. De Nolhac
cf. Helm [1915] pp. 106, 114, 185
Illustration facing p.166
°
cf. Dominique-Vivant DENON L'oeil de Napoléon. Pierre Rosenberg Marie Anne Dupuy. Exposition Louvre Paris.
Catalogue .Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux .Paris 1999/2000
Chapitre Esquisse d'un portrait de Vivant Denon en artiste par Udolpho van de Sandt
Catalogue Notices 46 à 80 .
Louvre no.46 (Illustration)
Dominique-Vivant Denon
Madame Vigée-Lebrun peignant le portrait de Isabella Teotochi Marin
Eau-forte 165;146
PROVENANCE
Collection Denon (Lugt 780) cf. catalogue 24
BIBLIOGRAPHIE
Catalogo di incisioni, 1793, p.II : << Una Pittrice, che dipinge >>;
Catalogue des Estampes gravées, 1803, p.8 : << Une Femme faisant le Portrait d'une autre Femme >>;
Roux, 1949, no.45
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des Estampes &...
Ef 47/fol. p. 69
°
Tout commence le plus banalement du monde, en mai 1792. << Je brûlais du désir de voir Venise, j'y arrivai la veille de l'ascension [...]
M.Denon, que j'avais connu à Paris, ayant appris mon arrivée, vint me voir aussitôt.
Son esprit et ses grandes connaissances dans les arts faisaienet de lui le plus aimable cicerone, et je me réjouis beaucoup de cette heureuse rencontre >>,
écrit Mme Vigée-Lebrun dans ses Souvenirs. Elle ne pouvait mieux choisir son moment : la fête de Sensa, à Venise, n'est pas seulement celle d'Ascension,
c'est aussi celle, grandiose, où le doge , sur le Bucentaure , célèbre ses épousailles avec la mer.
Le lendemain de la fête, Denon présente Mme Vigée-Lebrun à son amie Isabella Teotochi Marin.
Celle-ci cède Denon à l'artiste francaise, un peu interloquée du procédé, pour lui servir de sigisbée pendant la durée de son séjour.
Ainsi Denon fera-t-il découvrir les merveilles artistiques de Venise à Mme Lebrun, qui écrit :
<< M.Denon m'avait aussi priée de faire le portrait de son amie, madame Marini, et je pris grand plaisir à peindre cette jolie femme,
attendu qu'elle avait infiniment de physionomie. >>
Isabella Teotochi, née à Corfou en 1760, épouse très jeune le patricien Carlo Antonio Marin en poste dans l'île (Corfou était sous domination vénitienne).
Lorsque Denon la rencontre à Venise, celle qui tiendra l'un des salons les plus éminents de la Sérénissime réunit déjá autour d'elle un petit groupe de patriciens libéraux et d'intellectuels.
Ce sera bientôt le grand amour. Lorsque Denon est chassé de Venise, les deux amants cherchent à se rejoindre; les circonstances contrecarrent leurs projets;
Isabella parvient à faire annuler son marriage avec Marin et finit par épouser Giuseppe Albrizzi, en 1796.
C'est sous le nom d'Isabella Teotochi Albrizzi qu'elle est connue désormais. L'amour que se portent Denon et Isabella est un secret bien gardé :
connu seulement de quelques rares intimes, il demeure totalement ignoré de tous leurs biographes respectifs.
Les lettres de Denon à Isabella - à Bettine comme il l'appelle - ; qui viennent d'être publiées, lèvent enfin, en partie, le voile sur l'histoire de ce qui fut une grande passion.
Habent sua fata... Pour Mme Vigée-Lebrun le portrait d'Isabella (catalogue 549), peint par reconnaissance amicale pour Denon, est,
en comparaison avec ses oeuvres de commande habituelles, une efigie bien modeste et intime et << madame Marini >> n'est pour elle qu'une rencontre de passage.
Elle ne pouvait guère se douter de l'influence que son portrait allait avoir sur le destin de son modèle, ni du statut exceptionnel qu'il acquerrait.
Malgré l'anonymat dont Denon entoure le sujet dans ses catalogues - et dont les raisons restent d'ailleurs mystérieuses -,
la situation réelle ici représentée ne fait à nos yeux aucun doute : il s'agit bien d'Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun peignant, en juin 1792, à Venise, à la demande de Denon,
le portrait de son amie Isabella Teotochi Marin. Le modèle est indubitablement Isabella telle qu'elle apparaît sur els portraits gravés par Denon (Roux, nos.273-278)
et par son élève Francesco Novelli. L'artiste, aussi, se reconnaît au fichu emblématique qu'elle porte, tout comme sur son Autoportrait des Offices
(gravé de même par Denon, il figure, avec le portrait d'Isabella, dans L'Originale e il Ritratto, 1792; catalogue 47).
Nous présentons les deux états connus : d'abord une eau-forte pure, inspirée de la manière claire de G.B. Tiepolo,
complétée ensuite par les contre-tailles et un travail à la roulette.
U.v.d.S.
°
Master Print
not in British Museum Collection Denon Etchings
A Woman painting a portrait of Another Woman
Catalogue de la Chalcographie du Louvre Estampes par le Citoyen Denon CCL No.116
cf. Helm [1915] pp. 106, 114, 185
Illustration facing p.166
Catalogue .Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux .Paris 1999/2000
Chapitre Esquisse d'un portrait de Vivant Denon en artiste par Udolpho van de Sandt
Catalogue Notices 46 à 80 .
Louvre no.46 (Illustration)
Madame Vigée-Lebrun peignant le portrait de Isabella Teotochi Marin
Eau-forte 165;146
PROVENANCE
Collection Denon (Lugt 780) cf. catalogue 24
Catalogo di incisioni, 1793, p.II : << Una Pittrice, che dipinge >>;
Catalogue des Estampes gravées, 1803, p.8 : << Une Femme faisant le Portrait d'une autre Femme >>;
Roux, 1949, no.45
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, département des Estampes &...
Ef 47/fol. p. 69
M.Denon, que j'avais connu à Paris, ayant appris mon arrivée, vint me voir aussitôt.
Son esprit et ses grandes connaissances dans les arts faisaienet de lui le plus aimable cicerone, et je me réjouis beaucoup de cette heureuse rencontre >>,
écrit Mme Vigée-Lebrun dans ses Souvenirs. Elle ne pouvait mieux choisir son moment : la fête de Sensa, à Venise, n'est pas seulement celle d'Ascension,
c'est aussi celle, grandiose, où le doge , sur le Bucentaure , célèbre ses épousailles avec la mer.
Le lendemain de la fête, Denon présente Mme Vigée-Lebrun à son amie Isabella Teotochi Marin.
Celle-ci cède Denon à l'artiste francaise, un peu interloquée du procédé, pour lui servir de sigisbée pendant la durée de son séjour.
Ainsi Denon fera-t-il découvrir les merveilles artistiques de Venise à Mme Lebrun, qui écrit :
<< M.Denon m'avait aussi priée de faire le portrait de son amie, madame Marini, et je pris grand plaisir à peindre cette jolie femme,
attendu qu'elle avait infiniment de physionomie. >>
Isabella Teotochi, née à Corfou en 1760, épouse très jeune le patricien Carlo Antonio Marin en poste dans l'île (Corfou était sous domination vénitienne).
Lorsque Denon la rencontre à Venise, celle qui tiendra l'un des salons les plus éminents de la Sérénissime réunit déjá autour d'elle un petit groupe de patriciens libéraux et d'intellectuels.
Ce sera bientôt le grand amour. Lorsque Denon est chassé de Venise, les deux amants cherchent à se rejoindre; les circonstances contrecarrent leurs projets;
Isabella parvient à faire annuler son marriage avec Marin et finit par épouser Giuseppe Albrizzi, en 1796.
C'est sous le nom d'Isabella Teotochi Albrizzi qu'elle est connue désormais. L'amour que se portent Denon et Isabella est un secret bien gardé :
connu seulement de quelques rares intimes, il demeure totalement ignoré de tous leurs biographes respectifs.
Les lettres de Denon à Isabella - à Bettine comme il l'appelle - ; qui viennent d'être publiées, lèvent enfin, en partie, le voile sur l'histoire de ce qui fut une grande passion.
Habent sua fata... Pour Mme Vigée-Lebrun le portrait d'Isabella (catalogue 549), peint par reconnaissance amicale pour Denon, est,
en comparaison avec ses oeuvres de commande habituelles, une efigie bien modeste et intime et << madame Marini >> n'est pour elle qu'une rencontre de passage.
Elle ne pouvait guère se douter de l'influence que son portrait allait avoir sur le destin de son modèle, ni du statut exceptionnel qu'il acquerrait.
Malgré l'anonymat dont Denon entoure le sujet dans ses catalogues - et dont les raisons restent d'ailleurs mystérieuses -,
la situation réelle ici représentée ne fait à nos yeux aucun doute : il s'agit bien d'Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun peignant, en juin 1792, à Venise, à la demande de Denon,
le portrait de son amie Isabella Teotochi Marin. Le modèle est indubitablement Isabella telle qu'elle apparaît sur els portraits gravés par Denon (Roux, nos.273-278)
et par son élève Francesco Novelli. L'artiste, aussi, se reconnaît au fichu emblématique qu'elle porte, tout comme sur son Autoportrait des Offices
(gravé de même par Denon, il figure, avec le portrait d'Isabella, dans L'Originale e il Ritratto, 1792; catalogue 47).
Nous présentons les deux états connus : d'abord une eau-forte pure, inspirée de la manière claire de G.B. Tiepolo,
complétée ensuite par les contre-tailles et un travail à la roulette.
U.v.d.S.
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